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DERRYSvfCTORY 
" 'EMORIAL 




INTRODUCTORY 
THE STORYomeMEMORlAL 

Web^tei'PHunhn^i'on 

ARETROSPECTo/lheBATTLE 
o/LAKEERIE . 







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The Perry 's Victory 
Memorial 



A History of Its Origin, Construction and Comple- 
tion in Commemoration of the Victory of Com- 
modore Ohver Hazard Perry in the Battle of 
Lake Erie and the Northwestern Campaign of 
General William Henry Harrison in the War 
of 18V2 and its Dedication to the Cause 
of International Peace; containing an 

INTRODUCTION 

by 

Henry Watterson 

First Vice President General of the Interstate Board of the 
Perry's Victory Centennial Commissioners 

The Story of the Memorial 

by 

WEBSTER P. HUNTINGTON 

Secretary General 
and 

A Retrospect of the Battle of Lake Erie 



COPYRIGHT. 1917 

THE COMMERCIAL PRINTING & LITHOGRAPHING CO. 

PUBLISHERS 

AKRON. OHIO 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



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Contents 

Page 
INTRODUCTORY 7 

THE STORY OF THE MEMORIAL 

I. The Develoi'.ment of the Memoriae Idea 13 

II. The Memoriai 93 

III. The Inter-State Board 34 

l\'. Ohio 4^ 

A'. Pexxsvl\'axi.v 53 

\'I. ]\IlCIiIGAX gQ 

All. Ii i.ixois 52 

A'lll. W'lscoxsix 54 

IX. Xe\\ York 57 

X. Rhode Lslaxd 7 j 

XI. Kentucky 73 

XII. Legislatiox IX Congress 77 

Xni. The Centennial Celebration g7 

XIV, Restoration and Cruise oe the X^iagara '. . . 95 

.•\ RETROSPECT OF THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 108 

APPENDIX ] 24 




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Introductory 



History 



WHATRX'ER we may or may not l)e. we Americans can scarcely 
he called a memorializing people. We seem indeed readier to 
accept the self-assertion of the living than to erect monuments 
to the dead. Long ago Barnum, the showman, discovered that even as 
the average Englishman dearly loves a lord does the average Yankee 
dearly love a humbug. It is to the women of our land that we are in- 
debted for the stately shaft in honor of ^Vashington which towers over 
the National Capital, as well as for the ownership of Mount A'ernon. 
Latterly Lincoln has been coming to a proper recognition. But when we 
look for visible signs of the saints and sages, the heroes and martyrs of 
other days, we discover that they are few and far between and very hard 
to find. Vitalizing 

In Tuirope, go where you will, you may not come upon a ^'illage or 
hamlet that boasts not some expression of pious homage and local pride 
in l)ronze or marble, some "storied urn or animated bust." recalling the 
life and deeds of the great man who was born there, whilst the parks, 
the streets and the public places of the cities and towns are ever3^where 
ennobled and beautified by the imagery, inspired by the nomenclature of 
the past, vitalizing history and educating and elevating the people. 

Around the Great Lakes, as we call our inland oceans, with Chicago, 
ihe world-famous, for an axis, flanked by Milwaukee, the Queen City of 
^^'isconsin, and Detroit, the Fairy Goddaughter of Michigan — sailing 
from Duluth to Bufifalo — tarrying awhile at Toledo and Sandusky and 
Erie — shame upon them ! — we look, with a single exception, in vain for 
some evidence that less than a hundred years ago there lived a man 
named Oliver Hazard Perry, and, save as a summer resort, that there 
is, or ever was a place called Put-in-Bay. 

All honor to the single exception ! In Cleveland, that miracle of 
modern progress, wfiich carries Ohio's challenge to the Great Northwest 
and gives her rivals on either hand a run for their money, we do learn 
that, on the 10th of September, 1813, a battle was fought by Oliver 
Hazard Perry in the waters of Put-in-Bay, which enabled the victor to 
relate that "we have met the enemy and they are ours !" 



Jones and 
Perry 



Next after John Taul Jones stands Oliver Hazard Perrv. Tones 
brought the American Revolution home to England. Perry drove Eng- 
land back behind the barricades of her New France. The fight off Scar- 
borough Head in the North Sea told the world that if England was the 
mistress of the sea, America was master. The fight oft' Put-in-Bay 
rescued the territory conquered by George Rogers Clark and wiped out 
the disgrace of Hull's surrender. 

Jones laid the cloth for the French alliance. Perry cleared the way 
for Harrison's advance and shortened the distance between Bladensburg 
cind the Treaty of Ghent. But, above all. it was Perry, like Jones, who 
gave the A\orld assurance of a man. of an American and of America, the 
resistless, the unconquerable ; of the flag, the glorious, the wonder- 
breeding; of the Union, the imperishable. Over every frontispiece from 
the Aurora Borealis to the Southern Cross, over every temple of libertv 
and trade, over every arena of manly prowess and productive achieve- 
ment, blazing in letters of living light, as Webster would have said, shine 
forever the letters that .spell the words, 'AVe have met the enemv and 
they are ours." 

It was a marvelous battle, a magical victory. The story reads like a 
page out of the impossible. Truly is there a destiny that governs the 
world and rules in the lives of men. The young subaltern, rusting and 
fretful in the little Rhode Island seaport ; the longed-for call to action and 
the instant answer of the minute men ; the sudden apparition of a fleet in 
the harbor of Erie as though some wizard hand had touched the forest 
and commanded its trees of oak and ash to rise and sail the deep; the 
thunder of the guns carrying Freedom's message of defiance; the ha\'oc. 
the repulse, the running of the gauntlet of fire and blood from ship to 
ship. Let me read you the brief, immortal story. I take it from the 
graphic narrative of John Clark Ridpath. 

The Lawrence, Perry's flagship, began to suft'er dreadfully under the 
concentrated fire of the enemy. First one gun and then another was dis- 
mounted. The masts were broken. The rigging of the vessel was rent 
away. The sails were torn to shreds. Soon she yielded no longer to the 
wind, l)ut lay helpless on the water. 

On the deck death held carnival. The American sailors lay dead and 
dying on every hand. During the two hours that Perry faced his an- 
tagonist his men were reduced to a handful. Entering the action the 
Lawrence had a crew of officers and men numbering a hundred and 
three. Of these, by 2 o'clock in the afternoon, eighty-three were either 
dead or wounded. Still Perry held out. Others fell around him, until 
only the commander and thirteen others were left uninjured. 

Meanwhile all the ships had become engaged — Init the Niagara only 
at long range and ineft'ectively. Elliott, the captain of that vessel, per- 
ceiving that resistance from the Lawrence had ceased, now sailed ahead 
believing that Perry had fallen and that the command had devolved on 
hmiself. It was at this juncture that Perry resolved upon that famous 



exploit which has made his name immnrtal. He pulled down his battle 

fla"-, but left the Stars and Stripes still floating! Then, with his brother Niagara 

Alexander and four of his remaining seamen, he lowered hnnself mto jjgg^^^g 

the boat. He flung his pennant and battle flag over his arm and around 

his person, stepped into the boat, stood upright and ordered the men 

to pull for the Niagara. 

That vessel w^as more than a half-mile distant. It required the oars- 
men fully fifteen minutes to make the passage. The 1)oat had to pass 
in full exposure to the enemy's guns. The British at once perceived what 
was doing. As the smoke cleared from around the hull of the Lawrence 
they saw the daring act of the commander, transferring his flag from one 
ship to another. His own ^•essel was shattered to death : but there was 
the Niagara, hale and strong. Should he succeed in making her deck, 
the battle would be to fight over again. \^ictory or defeat was ttirning 
on the issue. 

The British guns opened on the little boat. Discharge after discharge 
followed. Some of the shot struck the frail cockle, and the splinters flew ; 
l)Ut the men were unhurt. Perry continued to stand up as a target until 
the faithful seamen refused to pull unless he would sink down to a posi- 
tion of greater safety. The shot from the enemy's guns knocked the 
water into spray around them, ])ut the boat reached the Niagara in safety, 
and Perry was taken up. A moment more, and his l^attle flag was fly- 
ing above the unhurt ship ! 

May every schoolljoy and e\'ery schoolgirl in the land read the rest of 
it : how, his foot upon the deck of the Niagara, his battle flag again flying 
;it the fore, IVrry swooped like a hurricane down upon the enemy's line; 
cut the pjritish fleet in two. right in the middle, three vessels on the right, 
three upon the left; l)roadside after broadside on either hand; death and 
destruction in his resistless wake. Thirty minutes and all is over; the 
brave English commander, Barclay, hors dii combat, his second in com- 
mand, Finnis, killed outright. Human nature could hold out no longer. 
Down comes the British flag. \\'e had met the enemy and they were 
f'urs, "two shi])s, two l)rigs. one schooner and one sloop," said Perry in 
liis report to Harrison, written upon the back of an old letter, his hat 
for a desk. 

The victor (again I cjuote from Ridpath) did not in the elation of his 
triumph forget the situation around him. He caused himself to be 
transferred from the still unhurt Niagara back to the bloody deck of 
the Lawrence. There, and not in some other place, would he receive the 
surrender of the enemy. The British officers, as they came up to present 
their swords, had to pick their wa}' through dead and dying, slipping in 
])ools of blood as they came. Perry bade his antagonists retain their 
swords, his the chi\alry of one to whom the fortunes of war had given 
the power, but not the right, to humiliate a fallen foe. 

In the silence of the fe)llowing night the dead sailors, British and 
American, were consigned to their last rest in the clear waters of Lake 
Erie. The next day Perry brought back to Put-in-Bay his own and the 



captured fleet. Sailing into the harbor, the dead officers of both com- 
mands were buried on the shore. The losses had l)een very great. On 

the American side twenty-seven were killed and ninety-six wounded 

this out of a force of but little over four hundred effective men. The 
loss of the British was forty-one killed and ninety-four wounded, the 
The Cost gallant Captain Barclay, who had already lost an arm, having the mis- 
fortune to lose the other. 

Great w^as the fame of the l^attle and of him wdio won it. It was the 
first time in history that an entire British fleet, large or small, had Ijeen 
taken in any open, equal conflict. Lake Erie was cleared. The way for 
Harrison and his braves, for Shelby and his hunting shirts, was open, 
and forever and ever the Great Northwest, rid of invaders, was redeemed. 

A hundred years have come and gone — a hundred years of peace en- 
suing between the great English speaking nations following their con- 
summation of a solemn compact for its preservation, the perpetual dis- 
armament of their boundaries, an epoch-making. Christianizing compact, 
forever evidencing the efficacy of Reason to reign in the place of Force. 

In commemoration of Perry's Victory on Lake Erie we have builded 
the greatest battle monument in the wt)rld, and, symbolic of the bless- 
ings of peace among nations, we have reared it in the majestic out- 
lines of the most beautiful and impressive of memorials. Nine so\-ereign 
States and the authority of the Federal government have herein testified 
History ^*^ ^^^^ genius and the aspirations of the American people. 

°l ^h« It is right that the history of this achievement should be written. It 

Memorial • i . ^.i ^ ..-t-i i- r- i t» r ■ , ,, 

IS right that The Story of the Memorial," as told m these pages l)y one 

most competent to relate it, should be known to future generations. The 
building of the Memorial pertains to history equally with the events 
which gave it inspiration. As the monument shall stand for all ages, 
so the patriotic zeal, devotion and intelligence which gave it to the na- 
tion are part of the imperishable records of our country. 

Fittingly we have memorialized Valor and Peace. May the hearts of 
men never turn from the one as the signet of human worth, nor from the 
other as the heritage of human libertv! 



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SHORE LINK OF MEMORIAL RESERVATION BEFORE CLEARIXO THE SITE 



The Development of the 
Memorial Idea 



Centennial 



IN January, 1908, Rodney J. Diegle, of Put-in-Bay and Sandusky, 
( )hio, called on me at Columbus, to ask my advice and co-operation 
in determining the phraseology of a joint resolution which, as the origin 
representative of the Put-in-Bay Board of Trade, he desired to have of the 
adopted by the ( )hio General Assembly. Air. Diegle v/as the Director of 
Publicity of the Board of Trade, and at a meeting of that body held No- 
vember 14, 1907, had made the first suggestion, original with him, of a 
celebration of the centenary of the Battle of Lake Erie, under the sanc- 
tion of the State, six years later at Put-in-Bay. 

Naturally, the proposal met with local enthusiasm, and on December 
28, 1907, the Board of Trade adopted resolutions in favor of "a great 
Centennial Celebration on land and water, to be held at Put-in-Bay from 
June to September, 1918," and inviting "the National and State Govern- 
ments and the American people at large to participate and take part in 
such ceremonies and celebration." During the interim l)etween this ac- 
tion and Mr. Diegle's suggestion looking up to it, the leading citizens 
of Put-in-Bay had taken counsel among themselves as to the project, 
and their views of it had become expansive though by no means definite. 
Those who l)an(led themselves together to promote the enterprise were 
S. M. Johannsen, Henry Fox, T. B. Alexander, Lucas Meyers, George 
Gascoyne, John J. Day, H. A. Herbster, M. Ingold, Eniil Schraidt, A\'il- 
liam Kunzler, Gustave Heineman, S. Traverse, John Hollway, AA'illiam 
Schnoor. John Esselbach and Dr. P. B. Robinson, all members of the 
Board of Trade, of which Mr. Johannsen was President, and the resolu- 



13 



First 
Legislation 



First Sug- 
gestion of a 
Memorial 



tion of Deceml)cr 28, 1907, which they as such adopted, was the first 
action of any organized body proposing an i )l)scr^•ance of the centenary 
of the Battle of Lake Erie. 

No thought of a permanent Memorial, at I'ut-in-l!ay or elsewhere, at 
that time had occurred to anybody. It was not suggested in the resolu- 
tions adopted by the Board of Trade nor in the joint resolution proposed 
to be offered in the Ohio General Assembly, which ^Ir. Diegle brought 
to me to pass ui)on. As for the scope of the proposed celebration, it was 
understood that the participation in it tif other states than Ohio should 
be confined, if the project fared well, to those bordering on the Great 
Lakes, and the suggestion of the participation of the National Govern- 
ment was entirely chimerical but cherished as an am])ition not impos- 
sible to be realized. 

1lie draft of Air. Diegle's joint resolution was not difficult to agree 
upon. It pro\-idc(l lor the appointment of five Ctjmmissioners by the 
Goxernor of ( )hio "to co-operate with the citizens of Put-in-Bay" in such 
l)lans for the celebration as they might initiate, and the only change sug- 
gested to Mr. Diegle was that the language should be made more definite, 
so as to provide for authority to "prepare and carry out" plans. No ap- 
])roi)riation was asked for, no period for the proposed celebration was 
fixed, except that it should "fittingly observe the one hundredth anni- 
versary of the Battle of Lake Erie." and it was provided that the Com- 
missioners to be appointed should serve without compensation, even 
for their necessary expenses. The State was asked only to grant moral 
recognition of a Centennial Celebration marking the historical signifi- 
cance of September 10, 191 o. In February, 190S. the joint resolution 
was introduced in the General Assembly by Representative William 1-".. 
Bense. of Ottawa County, and })assed l)oth branches without opposition. 
The Commissioners were appointed by (io\ernor Harris in the following 
June, and a year later the Legislature appropriated $3,000 "to enable 
said Commissioners to continue the work of preparation for the Cen- 
tennial Celebraticm," but still without mention of a Memorial. 

'I'he idea of a Memorial originated in the necessitA' of some tangible 
object to interest other states than Ohio, since no industrial exposition 
was contemplated. It occurred to me that if (Jhio could be induced to 
make a moderate apjjropriation for such a i)urpose. the States bordering 
on the (ireat Lakes might contribute to it; and the idea took the form of 
a Memorial chapel in the ])ark skirtmg the har])or at I'ut-in-Bay, to be 
l)uilt by the State of Ohio and containing eight memorial windows, his- 
torically significant and artistically executed, one each to be presented 
by the seven other Lak" States, and one by Ohio. This thought was 
communicated to some of the Ohio Commissioners and to other friends 
of the Centennial ])roject, and in the first report of the Commissioners 



14 



to the Governor of Ohio, adopted December 29, l!)08, and filed Janu- 
ary l■.^ 19(i!>, "a permanent building- on Put-in-Bay Island" was recom- 
mended to memorialize the heroes of the Battle of Lake b2rie. 

There was no thought, originally, of the participation of Rhode Island 
and Kentucky with the Lake States in the project. The participation 
of Rhode island was suggested to the Secretary of the Ohio Commis- 
sion by Emilius O. Randall, Secretary of the Ohio State Historical and 
Archeological Society, and of Kentucky by J. Howard Galbraith. a lead- 
ing representative of the Ohio press; and when communicated to the 
Commissioners these sug-gestions were received with greatest favor and 
acted upon at the earliest possil)le moment. 

At this period there came into the life of the Memorial project a John 
l)ersonal influence which was destined to have a determining efl:'ect upon Eisenmann 
its later far greater de^•elo})ment and to insure the erection of a Memorial 
trulv National in character, and in dimensions and cost far beyond any 
conception thus far entertained regarding such a structure. John lusen- 
mann, an eminent architect of Cleveland, became interested in the sub- 
ject. Mr. Kisenmann for many years had been a member of the L^nited 
States Engineering Corps assigned to the Great Lakes, a member of the 
faculty of Case School of Applied Science and was the author of the Building 
Code of Cleveland. He was perfectly familiar with the topography of Put- 
in-Bay Island and had made soundings of the surrounding waters and 
studied the geological formations of the region. Possessed of a singularlv 
enthusiastic and devoted nature, he became enamored of the Memorial 
idea. Its historical significance and artistic possibilities appealed to hnn 
profoundly, and to these he conceived the purpose of adding certain 
utilitarian details of great moment, calculated to appeal powerfully to 
the general public. 

Mr. Kisenmann made a hasty sketch of his conception and upon re- 
ceiving encouragement from certain members of the Ohio Commission 
executed a large drawing in water colors. This met with such favor 
that he was requested to attend a meeting of the Commission, called by 
Governor Harmon and held in the State Capitol at Columbus, September 
27, 1909, and to explain his plans. Meanwhile he had visited Put-in-Bay 
and had selected, without the knowledge of the Commissioners or any 
other persons, the present site of the Memorial as the best for any that 
might be erected. It was the heavily wooded and swampy isthmus, then 
the last spot on the Island to attract attention for such a purpose, which 
now comprises the beautiful Memorial Reser\-ation of fourteen acres. 
Air. Eisenmann made borings for rock bottom and proved the existence 
of the limestone strata wdiich upholds the present Alemorial. 

Subsequently the Ohio Commissioners gave further encouragement 
to the Eisenmann plan, and it was used by them before many legislative 

15 



bodies and their committees, to indicate the character of the ^Memorial 
proposed to be erected. It contemplated a cement structure on a steel 
frame, over 400 feet high, with elevators running to the top, through 
ten floors, each floor dedicated to one of the particii)ating States, assum- 
ing that the eight States l)or(lering on the (jreat Lakes, including In- 
diana and Minnesota, would be joined by Rhode Island and Kentucky 
in the enterprise. The utilitarian features were to l)e a wdreless tele- 
graph station, a life saving station, an aquarium and a convention hall, 
with lagoons connecting the waters of Lake Erie and I'ut-in-Bay Harljor 
throtigh the isthmus, both to reduce the distance to jje traversed by 
small craft in gaining the harbor and for landscape efifects. These fea- 
tures, together with the general design, appealed strongly to legislative 
and executive authorities in Congress and in many States, in wdiich the 
exhil)ition of the design was largely responsible for the appropriation 
of more than .i>350,000 for the Memorial and Centennial Celebration, 
prior to the time a competition of architects was determined upon to 
select a design. Mr. Eisenmann executed complete working drawings, 
and competent engineering atithority pronounced them practicable and 
consistent with the estimated cost. On July 27, 1!)I0, the Ohio Com- 
missioners by resolution recommended the Eisenmann plans for adoption 
by the Inter-State Board, when organized, as planned, September 10th, 
"proxided the President of the Ohio Commission (General A\"arner) 
can make satisfactory arrangements as to compensation for the comple- 
tion of said jdans in detail." These arrangements w^ere made, but Presi- 
dent AVarner died August 13th, no contract having been entered into. On 
September 10th the Inter-State Board adopted a resolution declaring 
the proposed site of the Memorial acceptable to the Commissioners rep- 
resenting all the participating States, but no reference w^as made to the 
selection of a design or an architect, except that the whole subject was 
referred to the Executive Committee. 
The The Memorial had now become the central idea of the Centennial 

FaT'^"^^ Celebration, and by common consent it was agreed that the major part 
of the funds of the Inter-State Board, then in hand and thenceforth to 
be appropriated, should be dedicated to its erection. As this project in- 
creased in importance sentiment developed among the Commissioners 
favorable to a general competition of American architects for the selec- 
tion of a design. Accordingly, the Building Committee resolved to em- 
ploy an architectural advisor to draw up a Program of Competition, 
subject to the approval of the Inter-State Board, and this action was 
approved by the Board at the annual meeting held September 9, 1911. 
Frank Miles Day, a leading architect of Philadelphia, was employed as 
the architectural advisor of the Building Committee, ami at a meeting of 
that Committee, held at Cleveland, October 11th, which he attended, 

16 



the terms vi the Program of Competition were" agreed upon. Congress 
had passed the Federal appropriation act of $250,000 in the preceding 
]\Iarch, and there was now available from National and State appropria- 
tions $355,000 for the Memorial and Centennial Celebration. 

The fundamental provisions of the Program of Competition were Program of 
determined by the Building Committee in accordance with the long- Conipetiticn 
accepted views of Commissioners as to the historical significance of the 
[Memorial. It was stipulated that all designs submitted in the competi- 
tion should l)e for a Memorial "intended to commemorate the victory 
of Commodore ( )liver Hazard I'erry and the offtcers ;>nd men under his 
command at the Battle of Lake Erie, and as a memorial to one hundred 
vears of peace between Great Britain and the United States ;'' that the 
chosen site, which was described in the Program, should l)e considered 
bv all competitors; that the Memorial should consist "primarily of a 
shaft," the latter term not being used in a technical sense nor as in- 
dicating a type of design : that secondary buildings might be included in 
the general design at the discretion of competitors, and that the competi- 
tion should be anonymous. 

Representing the United .states Commissioners and the lUiilding Ct>m- National 

*^' Fin6 Arts 

mittee. Lieutenant General .Miles entered into corresi)ondence with the commission 

National Commission of Fine Arts, which had l)ut lately been estali- 
lished by act of Congress (See Appendix B) and whose members had 
recentlv been ap])ointed l)y President Taft ; and on November 3, 1911, 
the Committee was notified that the Commission would act as the 
judges of award in the architectural competition. 

The attractiveness of the theme, the official auspices under which the 
competition was to be conducted and the assurance of the advice of the 
National Commission of Fine Arts in making the awards, resulted in 
the largest and most representative competition of architects ever held 
in this country, and the exhil)its were pronounced by experts as exceed- 
ing in number and merit any gathered together for a like purpose in the 
world. One hundred and forty-seven architects and architectural firms 
applied for admission to the competition under the official Program; 
eighty-three were admitted, and upon the making of the awards l)y the 
Commission of Fine Arts at Washington, January 27-29, 1912, fifty-four 
complete exhibits of drawings and plans completely filled the great hall 
of the National ^Museum. Experts of the Commission of Fine Arts 
roughly estimated that the architects of the country, in the cost of the 
technical work displayed, had expended a sum not less than $100,000. 

It was an honor indeed, to be named as the author of the best de- 
sign in such a competition, the anonymous character of which gave em- 
phasis to its genuineness. The authorship of no design was known to 
the judges; the exhibits were identified by numbers, corresponding 

17 



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ORIGINAL DESIGN OF THE MEMORIAL 
Photographed from a Model. 



Exhibits 
and Awards 



numbers, with the names of the authors attached, being phiced in sealed 
envelopes, pending the awards. The Commission ni Fine Arts having 
made its findings from a t\v() days" examination of the exhibits, the 
Inter-State Board was convened at the National Museum, and Colonel 
Spencer Cosby, Secretary of the Commission, presented the sealed 
envelopes containing the identification of the successful contestants. 
The envelopes were opened and their contents noted, by the Secretary 
General of the Inter-State Board, and passed to President General 
Worthington, who announced the awards. 

These consisted of the first prize, designating the author of the de- 
sign as the architect of the Memorial, and three premiums, awards of 
merit, respectively of $1,250, $1,000, and $750. for the first, second and 
third best designs. The first prize as architect of the Memorial was 
awarded to Design No. 5, by J. H. Freedlander and A. D. Seymour, Jr., 
of New York ; the first premium to Design No. 17, by James Gamble 
Rogers, of New^ York ; the second to Design No. 34, by Paul Cret, of 
Philadelphia ; and the third to Design No. 54, by Dillon, IMcLellan & 
Beadel, of New York. 

The unprofessional opinions of the Commissioners of the Inter-State 
Board fully approved the justice of these findings. All of the Commis- 
sioners and hosts of visitors at the two days' exhil)it (.f designs had been 
struck by the surpassing l)eauty of the conception of a Memorial by 
Messrs. Freedlander and Seymour. (See Appendix C and D. ) It 
instantly gained public admiration and among experts was declared the 
noblest realization of an inspiring ideal. In particular, its adaptability 



18 



to the site was immediately recognized ; and today in the completed 
Doric column and plaza, rising above the isthmus of Put-in-Bay as if 
from the sea, scintillating reflections in the waters of Lake and Harbor, 
reflecting innumerable shades of many-colored skies in its towering pro- 
portions, and with a halo of sunlight flashing from its bronze tripod 
as the crow^ning glory of its majesty, the genius of its designer and 
architect is manifested in the admiration and awe of all wdio behold it. 

]\Ir. Freedlander's association as architect of the Memorial with the Joseph H. 
eeneral officers of the Inter-State Board and members of the Building ^reedlander 
Committee necessarily extended over a period of years and involved 
relationships personally agreeable as well as productive of the highest 
efficiency in the process of construction and equipnient. In all the 
countless details of progress toward the completion of the work he vindi- 
cated the first impressions of fitness for the great task received from 
critical study of the design. 

The Doric column and plaza constitute the Perry's Victory ^lemorial, The 
notwithstanding the accessory buildings of the original design, consist- pj-opg"^ 
ing of an Historical Museum, or Temple of Peace, and a Colonnade 
dedicated to Peace by Arbitration, may or may not be realized in the 
future in accordance with the original conception. This conclusion w^as 
reached by joint action of the Building Committee, Federal Commission- 
ers and Executive Committee in June, 1912, and confirmed by the Inter- 
State Board in the following September. At this period it became ap- 
parent that, in order to release the Federal appropriation with fidelity 
to its terms, wdiich required that the money appropriated should not be 
available until the Federal Commissioners should become convinced that 
sufficient funds has been appropriated by the participating States to 
guarantee "a fitting [Memorial" wdien added to the Federal appropriation, 
it was absolutely necessary to designate the column and i)laza as the 
official Alemorial. Thus the solution of a critical proldem, which at 
one time threatened to indefinitely postpone building operations, was 
happily reached ; for, had the original design at the time been held as 
the Memorial i)n.per, it would have appeared that sufficient funds were 
not in i^rospect to complete it, and the Federal appropriation would 
have remained unavailable. 

The Memorial is distinctly a battle monument, a commemoration of 
American heroism in war; but it is also a noble tribute to international 
peace, first as celebrating the century of peace betw'een English-speak- 
ing peoples which ensued from the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, and 
the disarmament of the American and Canadian boundaries as the re- 
sult of the Rush-Bagot Treaty, and. second, as typifying the hope of 
the American people for the ultimate peace of the world through the 
principle of arlfitration. 

19 




ANNOUNCING TO THE PUBLIC AT PUT-IN-BAY, SEPT. 10, 1912, THE SEGREGATION 
OF $395,000 BY THE INTER-STATE BOARD TO BEGIN CONSTRUCTION 

The "peace idea" was Ijurn with the conception of the Centennial 
Celebration which gave origin to the Memorial, and it has survived 
through many vicissitudes. At the first meeting of the ( )hio Commis- 
sioners. July 23, 1908, it was resolved that the proposed Celebratioii 
should be known as "The Perry's Victory and International Peace Cen- 
tennial," due to the practically contemporaneous centenary of the Battle 
Interna- *^^ Ghent. This action was rescinded Octol)er 7, 190!), when the appoint- 

tional Peace ment of additional Commissioners by Governor Harmon resulted in th',- 
temporary adoption of the views of one of them, and the title given to the 
proposed Celebration was "The Centenary of Perry's Victory and General 
William Henry Harrison's Northwestern Campaign in the War of 1812." 
.Some facetious but pessimistic Ohio newspapers had expressed the opin- 
ion that the British would not "come down to celebrate the licking we 
gave them in 1812," and of^cial circles at Columl)us showed evidence of 
being impressed by this philosophy, but the "peace idea" would not 
cease. The Program of Competition for the design of the Memorial re- 
quired that it should be regarded equally with Victory in the treatment 
of the general theme; Mr. Freedlander took his inspiration largely from 
it in his original conception of the design ; the projected "Historical 
Museum," first at the suggestion of United States Commissioner Miles, 
became a "Temple of Peace ;" the official documents and souvenirs of 



20 




'A BATTLE ;\I()XUMENT, A COMMEMORATION OF AMERICAN HEROISM, 
A NOBLE TRIBUTE TO PEACE" 



the celebration dwelt upon this phase of its significance, and the climax 
of the Centennial ceremonies was reached in the international rites and 
expressions of good-will which characterized, on the 11th of September, ^^^^^^^^"^^fii 
1913. the transfer of the remains of the American and British officers 
killed in the Battle of Lake Erie a hundred years previously to their last 
resting place beneath the rotunda of the mighty column. 

And the British "came down" on that memorable day to help cele- 
brate a century of peace and to assist in the solemn dedication of the 
Memorial as expressing the aspirations of all nations for the peace of 
the world. 

In 1914 the Inter-State Board adopted measures intended to enlist the 
interest of all the States in the Union in the completion of the Memorial 
in accordance with the original design, and in 1915 this plan developed 
into a project of making the ]\Iemorial eventually not only a tribute to. 
but an institution for the promotion of, international peace. The general 
officers of the Board and General Keifer. representing the United States 
Commissioners, were named as a committee to approach the legislative 
and executive authorities of the several States in relation to this en- 
larged plan. At various times the mission thus authorized was under- 
taken by Treasurer General Sisson, Auditor General Cutler and Secre- 
tary General Huntington in Georgia, North and South Carolina. Ala- 
bama. \'irginia. \\'est \'irginia and Tennessee; by Secretary General 

21 



Huntingtun in Kansas, Oklahoma and Aiississippi ; by United States 

Nation-Wide Commissioner Miles. Auditor General Cutler and Commissioners 
Co-operation ^, i t^ • r t.i i t i i ■ i at t- i i r- 

Mowry and Davis, ot Rhode island, m the New England States; and by 

United States Commissioner Keifer, Financial Secretary Todd and Com- 
missioner Whitehead, of Wisconsin, in Indiana and ^Minnesota. 

In all of these States public sentiment and the convictions of those in 
official life favorable to the Memorial as an institution for peace were 
not found lacking, and it is entirely within the possibilities that this 
high destiny may yet attend its comjiletion in accordance with the 
oriirinal desitrn. 




SUNSET 
Photograph from the Top of the Memorial. 



22 



The Memorial 



In the earlier period of the Memorial enterprise, and from the moment 
of its inception, the ambitions (for at that time they could not have been 
dignified by the name of plans) of the Commissioners then acting were 
directed toward a building or monument entirely worthy of the historical 
significance and requirements of art which should characterize a public 
work commemorating American heroism in the War of 1812 and the 
ideals of international peace. 

And this notwithstanding the fact that the suggestion of a memorial 
was an afterthought of the Centennial Celebration originally exclusively Jj^emorial 
proposed, and in spite of the fact that no funds were at hand to carry an After- 
it (int. The first public reference to any memorial whatever was con- tlio"§^* 
tained in a report prepared by the Ohio Commissioners in December, 
]908, and filed with the Governor of that State. January 12, 1909. rec- 
(^mmending that "any memorial undertaken in honor of Perry's A^ictory 
should take the form of a permanent building on Put-in-Bay Island." 
This thought expressed the opposition of the Ohio Commissioners to a 
memorializing celebration or exposition only and committed them to 
biuh aims in behalf of a lasting testimonial to the objects of their ap- 
pointment. In a second report of the Ohio Commissioners, which was 
approved and in fact made a joint report by the first meeting of any 
Inter-State body concerned in the Centennial enterprise, held at Toledo, 
December 3, 1909,='= the character of the memorial, which at the time 
had begun to make its appeal fervent and convincing, though lamentably 
lacking in ways and means to realize the conception, was set forth as 
the ideal of all present. It was a great and not very promising project 
which was thus revealed in the following declaration : 

It is with a sense of solemn obligation that your Commissioners have 
considered the subject of an appropriate Perry's Victory Memorial. Our 
own opinion is fortified by universal public sentiment to the elifect that 

*See page 58. 

23 



A Dream 
Realized 



Material 




such a memorial must" be permanent. It must not only express the 
patriotic desire of the American people to pay lasting tribute to their 
honored dead, but it must be in the highest sense artistic and historically 
suggestive. It must have, by reason of these qualities, a peculiar edu- 
cational influence upon future genera- 
tions, proceeding from its singular in- 
dividuality. Better no memorial than 
an inadecjuate or unworthy one. The 
motive that prompts our people to thus 
commemorate one of the most glorious 
events in our history and the Nation's 
subsequent progress of a hundred 
years must be as broad as the Ameri- 
can continent and as deep roc^ted as 
our inherent love of free institutions. 
Nothing less will suffice than a memo- 
rial truly national in character, taking 
rank among the worthiest (^f such 
structures in the world. 

It seems little less than Providential 
— the hand of Destiny moulding the 
thought of men in lasting granite — 
that this conception of a great memo- 
rial, in view of the untoward conditions 
of its origin little more than a dream, 
should have been realized within the 
decade that gave it birth. 

The architectural scheme of the Memorial had its ince])tion in a ci 
buiation of historical events l)reathing the spirit of patriotism and valor 
Init disclosing the promise of a world at peace. According to the archi- 
tect, Air. Freedlander, "the composition was born in an instant— the 
shaft took the form of a great Doric column placed on a ])r.iad plaza 
elevated only slightly above the ground, so that the entire Memorial 
would appear to arise from the sea and be further enhanced by its reflec- 
tions in the rippling waters." It was the first inspiration of the arclii- 
tect that, in view of the location of the site in so great an expanse of 
water and the necessarily isolated character which these conditions im- 
ply, the Doric order treated without ornament of any kind seemed best 
adapted to convey the impression of grandeur and simplicity which the 
Memorial is intended to suggest. 

The stone selected for the entire Memorial is pink Milford granite. 
extremely iDeautiful in texture and color and of a sufficiently delicate 
pink cast to temper it and to counteract the natural tendency of pure 
white stones to take on a bluish cast under the sky. The color eft'ect is 
therefore that of pure white. Its geological composition is as nearly per- 
fect as can be obtained, and it was selected after exhaustive mechanical 
tests on account of its hardness and consequent great durabilitv. the 



oxp: op the four massive grax- 
ite urns on the plaza 



■i )m- 



24 





0. jMH|^HHH| r 'ai^^H^ 


^^^^^^^^R» 


^^^^^^^^Bgn^^^^^^jl^^H 



SECTION OF ROTUNDA 
Showing One of the Four Bronze P^ntrance Doors and Historical Tablets. 



25 



latter quality being naturally an essential in the choice of material for 
a monument destined to last through the ages. In order to give it as 
brilliant a texture as possible it is tooled or channelled with fine vertical 
lines. This treatment has the same etTect on granite as the cutting of 
facets on precious stones and tends to produce a sparkle, l:)rilliancy and 
play of light and shade extremely pleasing to the eye. 




ASCENDING TO THP: ELEVATOR FLOOR 



The foundations of the column and plaza rest directly on rock. At the 
inception of the work diamond-drill borings to ascertain the nature of 
the soil were made, with the result that rock was found to underlie the 
entire site at levels of from ten to twenty feet below the surface. This 



26 




t:levator rotunda 

Showing One of the Four Bronze Memorial Tablets. 

made it possible to drive the forms for the concrete foundations directly 
to rock, and did away with the necessity of sinking caissons. The strata 
was found to be hard and homogeneous and of excellent bearing quality. 

The ^Memorial stands on what is virtually an isthmus, connecting the 
two larger sections of South Bass Island, overlooking the waters and 
islands of Lake Erie spread out in beautiful panorama in all directions, 
and the scene of Perry's Victory off West Sister Island. The gigantic 
white Doric column, gleaming by day and ghostly by night, rises 340 
feet from the level of the plaza to the top of the great bronze tripod 
which surmounts it. Since the plaza is twelve feet above mean high 
water, the total height of the column may be stated as 352 feet. The im- 
pression of height, however, is greatly .emphasized by its isolation. Na- 
ture herself is dw-arfed beneath its tow-ering proportions. Unlike the 
high monuments of metropolitan centers, the eye institutes no com- 
})arisons of height in viewing it. The Memorial stands majestic and 
alone. It is the highest monument in the world, excepting only the 
\\'ashington monument, and the highest and most massive column 
ever attempted by the memorial builders of any age. 

The column is forty-five feet in diameter at the base and thirty-five 
feet and six inches at the neck, wdiile the thickness of the walls at these 
points is nine feet and nine inches, and five feet, respectively. The walls 



Dimensions 
of Column 



are built of gTanite ashlar or facing, backed up with C(»ncrete to the top 
of the shaft. The diameter of the clear space iu the interior of the 
column is twenty-six feet, six inches. There are se^■enty-eight courses 
of stone in the height of the shaft. Two flights of granite stairs built in 
the thickness of the walls afford communication between the four en- 
trance vestibules adjacent to the rotunda and the landing above it. At 




LOOKING UPWARD THROUGH CLKAR SPACK OP COLUMN 
Showing Concrete Stairway Around Elevator. 

this level the elevator and staircase start, and run to the top of the 
column. The staircase is built of reinforced concrete throughout its en- 
tire height of some two hundred and fifty feet. It runs around and is 
supported by four concrete columns and is composed of four hundred 
and sixty-seven steps. The elevator is installed in the staircase wall and 
is of the high-geared traction type. Its speed is two hundred and fifty 
feet per minute and it is capable of lifting twenty-five hundred pounds. 

28 



It is fitted with every modern safety device, inclnding- an apparatus which 
automatically precludes the car from moving until the doors of the 
shaft are closed. The trip from the lower to the upper landing is made 
in one minute. From the upper platform a door leads to the outside 
parapet, or spectators" gallery, concealed in the cap of the column. A 
cdass dome and ventilators at the top of the column provide light 




BRONZE TRIPOD SURMOUNTING THE COLUMN 



and air. while in addition the entire interior of the shaft is lined with a 
light color face brick, terminating at the bottom on a white tile base. The 
column is lighted electrically throughout and is provided with inter- 
communicating and general telephone systems. From the parapet, form- 
ing a promenade three hundred and fifty feet above the Lake, and ac- 

29 



View from 
the Top 



The Cap 



The Bronze 
Tripod 



commodating two hundred visitors in the open air at one time, is be- 
held a scene of unrivalled beauty. 

To the north lies the mouth of the Detroit River and in the distance 
the shadowy mainland of Canada ; to the west the mouth of the Maumee 
River and the waters which were the scene of the Battle of Lake Erie, 
and beyond the site of Toledo ; to the east a gleaming billowy expanse 
toward Cleveland, relieved by the presence of numerous verdant islands ; 
and to the south, Sandusky in plain view, flanked l)y the peninsulas of 
Marble Head and Cedar Point. From this eminence, the islands of Put- 
in-Bay, Gibraltar, Middle Bass, North Bass, Kelley's Island and num- 
erous others appear to be laid out at the feet of the beholder like beauti- 
ful landscapes in miniature. Sunrise or sunset is indescribably gorgeous. 
By day the picture grows upon the senses with charming allurement as 
the fleeting moments pass, and night reveals a fairyland of starlit skies, 
shadowy forms and shimmering reflections. 

From another and more scientific point of view the cap of the column, 
popularly known as the spectators' gallery, is extremely interesting. 
Its construction is a notable feature of structural detail. The cap 
has an overhang or projection at the angle of fifteen feet, measured 
on the diagonal. In order to hold the granite in place on the soffit or un- 
derside, forms were built ; the stones, after l)eing cut with keys on the 
upper surface, were laid on the forms, and reinforced concrete poured, 
until the whole became a homogeneous mass. The forms were then 
removed and the stones dressed on the underside to an even surface. To 
all practical purposes and to the eye, the overhanging cap is a solid mass 
consistent with the column. 

Rising above the spectators' gallery in imposing proportions is the 
great tripod surmounting the column, nobly monumental in itself. It 
is of solid bronze, twenty-three feet in height, its greatest diameter 
twenty feet, weight eleven tons, and costing $14,000. The tripod, cast 
from the architects' design by the Gorham Company, of New York, was 
transported to the Memorial in sections and riveted together on the 
grounds. An electric hoisting derrick swung it in place on the top of 
the column, to which it was bolted by means of steel angles built into 
the masonry. Special provision was made in its design, to stiffen it 
structurally against wind pressure, which, in view of its elevation three 
hundred and fifty feet above the water level, and the severity of the 
winter storms on the Great Lakes, presented a condition requiring care- 
ful calculation. 

The tripod supports a massive bowl for illumination purposes, the 
top of which is of ground plate glass one half inch thick, which at night 
afl:ords a soft glow penetrating the heavens and visible to the naked 
eye for many miles, due to the presence of two hundred incandescent 
lamps beneath it. 

30 




THE CHECKERBOARD OF ISLAND CULTIVATION 
View From the Spectators' Gallery. 

The main apprnach to the Memorial is from the waters of Put-in-Bay 
ITarbor, whence Commodore Perry went forth to meet the British foe 
in the Battle of Lake Erie. A flight of granite steps sixty-seven feet 
wide ascends to the plaza, of equal dimensions on all of its four sides, 
and at each corner of which is a massi\e granite urn. beautifully executed. 
The floor of the plaza is laid in colored and white tile, with artistic 
spaces for flower beds. 

Entrance to the rotunda is gained through four bronze doors marking 
the diameters of the column and facing the cardinal points of the com- 
pass. The rotunda is faced with Indiana limestone, and the floor is 
somewhat below the terrace level, four short flights of granite steps lead- 
ing down to it. The floor is of Tennessee marble, with a centerpiece The 
and border in color. Beneath it, toward the main entrance and at a 
spot appropriately marked, repose the remains of the three Americans 
and three British officers killed in the Battle of Lake Erie, (see Ap- 
pendix E) which for a hundred years lay buried on the shores of Put- 
in-Bay Island, where they were interred on the day after the conflict, 
with solemn ceremonies participated in by the former belligerents of 
both fleets, and which were disinterred by the Commissioners of the 
Inter-State Board and re-interred, with impressive services, where they 
now lie, on September 11, 1913. 

31 



Elevator 
Floor 



The ceiling of the rLttniuhi takes the fdrm ni a dume. No artifi<-ial 
lighting is required by day. At night a bronze and alabaster light, sus- 
pended from the center of the dome. gi\es a lieautiful radiance to the 
interior. On the walls are carved in stone a dedicatory tablet, and 
around the rotunda the names of the American vessels engaged in the 
historic baitle which the Memorial commemorates, and the names of 
the killed and wounded on board each (_.f them. The names of the 
Federal Government, the States participating in the construction of the 
Memorial and their Commissioners are in process of being placed on 
bronze tablets in the walls of the four doorways. The solemn atmo- 
si)here of this noble chamber, so significant in its lessons of patriotism, 
^ alor and self-sacrifice, is deeply impressiAC. 

Ascending to the second floor of the ^lemorial, flights of granite steps 
between glistening walls of white tile rise from the entrance opposite 
to the entrance through which the visitor enters on the harbor side. On 
this floor are bronze tablets containing the names of all the men en- 
gaged with the American fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie, a total of five 
hundred and eight names, taken from the government records of those 
^v•ho received prize money for participation in the 1)attle. Thus the 
Commissioners of the Inter-State Board have immortalized in stone and 
bronze all those who in any degree, by loss of life or otherwise, con- 
trilmted to one of the greatest naval achievements in history. 

The Memorial and plaza are erected upon a reservation of fourteen 
acres which at this point is only five hundred feet in width between the 
waters of Put-in-Bay Harbor and those of Lake Erie. Operations to 
clear the site were begun in June, 1912. Ground was broken for the 
construction of the Doric column October 1, 1912, by John Feick, con- 
tractor, of Sandusky, and the corner-stone was laid on July 4, 1913, 
Period of ^^der the auspices of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of 
Ohio, and in the presence of the members of the Inter-State Board, the 
Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and State officials, judges of the Supreme 
Court and members of the General Assembly, who were invited to be 
present as guests of honor. The Centenary exercises commemorating 
the Battle of Lake Erie were held on September 9, 10 and 11, at which 
' time ceremonies of a semi-dedicatory nature were celebrated at the un- 
finished Memorial and at a public meeting in the Put-in-Bay Coliseum 
and a centenary banquet at Hotel Breakers, Cedar Point, under the 
auspices of the Inter-State Board*. The completed ^lemorial was opened 
to the public June 13, 1915, three years, almost to the day, from the be- 
ginning of operations for its construction. 

The cost of the Memorial cannot be stated with absolute accuracy, 
if we are to include all the items of incidental and necessary expense. 



*See "The Centennial Celebration," page 92. 



32 



but was in the neighborhood of $700,000. For actual construction pur- 
poses the Federal Commissioners segregated $2-10,000 ; the Ohio Com- 
missioners, $126,000; Pennsylvania, $50,000; Michigan, $25,000; Illi- 
nois, $30,000; Wisconsin, $25,000; New York, $30,000; Rhode Island, Cost of 
$25,000; Kentucky, $25,000; and Massachusetts, $15,000. Total, $591,- 
000. These figures, however, do not include the necessary costs of 
the purchase of the site, of the architectural competition, superintendence 
of construction, fees of engineers, electrical conduits, a retaining wall 
and the organization necessary to carry on the work over a period of 
years. 

The contract for the construction of the great Doric column, in the 
sum of $357,588.00, was awarded by the Building Committee to the firm 
of J. C. Robinson & Son, of New York and Chicago. The contract for 
the construction of the plaza and approaches, in the sum of $122,000.00, 
was awarded to the Stewart Engineering Corporation, Mr. Spencer W. 
Stewart, President, of New York City, and subsecjuently reduced to 
$102,000. The construction of both passed the most thorough tests by 
eminent engineers and architects. Every stone in the Memorial was 
recjuired to undergo two expert examinations before being accepted and 
set, one at the quarries in Alassachusetts and the other on arrival at 
Put-in-Bay under the watchful eye of Superintendent of Construction 
C. E. Sudler, who represented the Building Committee on the ground 
throughout the period of construction. 

In the process of construction only the most expert advisers were as- 
sociated with the architects in the capacity of engineers. Those for the 
foundation and structural w^ork were Messrs. Boiler, Hodge & Baird, of 
New York, and for the electric power and wiring Pattison Bros., of New 
York. 

National in character, international in its appeal to the sentiment for 
uni\'ersal peace, and owing its origin and completion to a sisterhood 
of independent States acting in concert wuth the Federal Government, 
the Commissioners of the Inter-State Board early proposed that the 
Memorial should be under Federal ownership and control and the ^^ie United 
reservation on which it stands become a national park. Accordingly, States 
l)y authority of the Grand Assembly, the Governor of Ohio executed a 
deed conveying the Memorial and reservation to the United States, and 
this instrument is of record in the courts of Ottawa county. 

Thus the Commissioners have presented in name as well as in fact, 
the most beautiful, impressive and interesting Memorial in the world 
to the American people. 



The Inter- State Board 



rirst 
Meeting 



IT was foreseen, long before the consummation of the plan, that if 
success were to crown the efforts of Commissioners representing 
various States and the Federal Government to fittingly celebrate the 
centenary of the Battle of Lake Erie and construct a memorial in com- 
memoration of that event, a working organization, composed of such 
Commissioners, wanild be required to fulfill the object of their appoint- 
ment. It was an unusual and perhaps an unprecedented situation which 
confronted those Commissioners wdio met at Put-in-Bay September 10th, 
1910, to effect and perfect an organization. Various independent States 
had patriotically associated themselves together to perform a National 
duty. They were hopeful of the moral support and practical aid of the 
Federal Government, but neither had been manifested at this time. The 
Commissioners were aiming at a target almost in the dark. The enter- 
prise being devoid of commercialism and the material spirit always 
peculiar to industrial expositions, rested solely upon the patriotism of 
the people's representatives in State Legislatures and in Congress and 
upon the devotion of the Commissioners attached to the cause. 

Upon the assembling of Commissioners for their first interstate meet- 
ing at the time and place named, Ohio was the only state having made 
an appropriation for the objects in view, in amount the sum of $28,000, 
of which $25,000 had been appropriated for a memorial building and 
$8,000 for actual and necessary expenses, more than half of the latter hav- 
ing been expended in obtaining the participation of various States by 
the appointment of Commissioners at that time named. The Commis- 
sioners of all the States represented had high hopes of both State and 
Federal aid, but a nebulous condition as to resources, ways and means 
prevailed at the first meeting. 

34 




o 



X 









<1 









E- 



2; 

h-l 
Eh 



M 

E-i 

« 
I— ( 

;=( 

b^ 

H 
O 

h-t 

02 
02 



O 



Original 
Commis- 
sioners 



Commis- 
sioners 
Present 



The Commissioners accredited to the various States at that time, 
named in the order of their appointment, were as follows : 

Ohio, George H. Worthington, Webster P. Huntington. S. ]\I. Johann- 
sen, Horace Holbrook, Webb C. Hayes, William C. Mooney, Eli Wink- 
ler; Pennsylvania, A. E. Sisson, Milton VV. Shreve, Edwin H. \"are, T. 
C. Jones and Dr. George W. Neff ; Michigan, Charles Moore, Rov S. Barn- 
hart, E. K. Warren, Seward L. Merriam and Albert L. Stephens ; Illinois. 
AX'illiam Porter Adams. W'illis J. Wells, Chesley R. Perry. General Philip 
C. Hayes and W. H. Mcintosh ; Wisconsin, Rear-x\dmiral Arthur Mac- 
Arthur. U. S. N.. Ret., John M. Whitehead. A. W. Sanborn, George A. 
Scott and O. A. Buslett ; New York, Dr. Clinton B. Herrick, George D. 
Emerson, Ogden P. Letchworth, John T. Mott and Henry Harmon 
Xoble ; Rhode Island. John P. Sanborn, Louis X. Arnold, Sumner 
?\lowry. William C. Bliss and Colonel Harry Cutler; Kentucky, Henry 
Watterson, R. W. Nelson, Samuel M. Wilson, Colonel Andrew Cowan 
and Mackenzie R. Todd. 

Those in attendance were Commissioners Worthington. Huntington, 
Johannsen. Manning. Hayes and Holbrook, of Ohio; Commissioners 
Sisson and Shreve, of Pennsylvania ; Commissioners Barnhart and 
Moore, of Michigan; Commissioners Hayes, Adams and Perry, of Illi- 
nois ; Commissioner Whitehead, of Wisconsin ; Commissioner Herrick, 
C'f New York ; Commissioners Sanborn, Arnold, Mowry, Bliss and Cutler, 
of Rhode Island ; and Commissioners Watterson, W^ilson and Todd, of 
Kentucky. Thus all the States joined in the enterprise were rejiresented. 

The meeting w^as called to order at two o'clock p. m. in the Town Hall at 
Put-in-Bay bv acting President Worthington, of the Ohio Commission. A 
temporary organization was effected by the election of Mr. Worthington 
as Temporary Chairman and Secretary Huntington, of the Ohio Com- 
mission, as Temporary Secretary. Mayor T. B. Alexander, of the village 
of Put-in-Bay, delivered a stirring address of welcome. The Temporary 
Secretary read letters of regret at their inability to attend the meeting, 
and of encouragement of the objects in view, from Honorable William 
H. Taft. President of the United States; Honorable Edwin S. Stuart, 
(jovernor of Pennsylvania ; Honorable Fred M. A\'arner, Governor of 
]\Iichigan ; Honorable Charles S. Deneen, Governor of Illinois; Honor- 
able J. O. Davidson, Governor of W^isconsin ; Honorable Charles E. 
liughes. Governor of New York; Honorable A. J. Pothier, Governor of 
Rhode Island ; and Honorable Augustus E. Willson, Governor of Ken- 
tucky. 

While the meeting was in progress Governor Judson Harmon, of Ohio, 
appeared in the hall under the escort of a committee and was invited to 
the platform. The Governor delivered an informal address, commend- 
ing the objects of the Commissioners, at the conclusion of which he took 
a seat on the floor and participated in the subsequent proceedings. 



36 



A draft of certain "Articles of Association" was presented for consid- 
eration, as the basis of discussion for a permanent organization, by the 
Secretary of the Ohio Commission. These articles have since constituted 
the working agreement of the Inter-State Board, virtually tantamount 
to a constitution and by-laws. Since their adoption at the initial meet- 
ing they have been amended in only trifling particulars. 

The only essential amendment oflfered and adopted upon their presen- 
tation and discussion was presented by Commissioner Wilson, of Ken- 
tucky, providing for the creation of the office of First Vice-President- Articles of 
General, and designating Commissioner Henry Watterson, of Kentucky. Association 
as the incumbent of that office — an honor which the Commissioners en- 
thusiastically bestowed upon Mr. \\'atterson by unanimous vote. 

Section 1 of the Articles of Association provided that "this Associa- 
tion shall be known as the Inter-State Board of the Perry's Victory 
Centennial Commissioners, organized for the purpose of promoting the 
historical, educational, naval and military celebration and the erection of 
the proposed Perry Memorial at Put-in-Bay. Ohio, in the year 1913, in 
honor of the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie and 
of the Northwestern campaign of General \\illiam Henry Harrison in 
the War of 1812." 

The further sections provided, in brief, that the membership should be 
composed of such persons as had been or might thereafter be appointed 
to represent the States of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Wis- 
consin, New Y(^rk, Rhode Island, Kentucky, Minnesota and Indiana, as 
Commissioners of such States in accordance with legislation thereof Member- 
favorable to the objects set forth in the Articles of Association, and such 
persons as might thereafter be appointed to represent the United States 
Government in the promotion of such objects. The limitation as to 
States joining in the enterprise was rescinded by an amendment to the 
Articles of Association adopted November 19th, 1913, by which the 
Inter-State Board extended the invitation to participate in the erection 
of the Memorial to all the States of the Union. 

The officers provided for were a President-General, a First Vice-Presi- 
dent-General, a \'ice-President from each of the States represented, to 
be nominated by the Commissioners thereof, a Secretary-General, a 
Treasurer-General and an Auditor-General. The duties of these officers 
were properly described, and an executive committee was provided for, 
consisting of the General Officers and one Commissioner representing 
each participating State, to be elected l)y each State Commission, and 
three Commissioners to be appointed by the President of the United 
States, upon appropriate action by Congress, of whom one should rep- 
resent the United States Army and one the United States Navy. 

The date of the annual meeting of the Inter-State Board was fixed as 
September 10th, or September 9th, when the 10th day of September 

37 



state Com- 
missions 



should fall on Sunday. The provision of the Articles of Association in 
regard to finances conferred upon the Executive Committee power to 
adopt such measures as in its judgment might seem fitting for the estab- 
lishment and disbursement of an Inter-State fund, devoted to building 
and general celebration purposes, "whenever one or more of the States 
herein named shall have made appropriations for the general objects in 
view," but it was expressly stipulated that "no funds shall be diverted 
from the control of any State Commission to a general fund, except by 
the approval of a majority of the Commissioners thereof." In other par- 
ticulars, also, the Articles of Association aimed to preserve the identity 
and the personal interest of each State Commission, declaring that "the 
powers herein granted to the Inter-State Board are delegated and in no 
sense subversive of the powers inherent in each State Commission as 
organized under the authority of each State participating in the Centen- 
nial anniversary." 

The wisdom of these provisions, relating both to appropriations and 
all other matters, was amply vin.dicated by subsequent experience. No 
State Commission has felt that the Inter-State Board has been inimical 
to its interest as a commission representing an independent Common- 
wealth, and at the same time the Inter-State Board has proved itself an 
effective and successful working organization in behalf of the Commis- 
sions of all the States and of the Federal Government. 

The first session of the first meeting of the Inter-State Board having 
thus considered the original draft of the Articles of Association, and the 
temporary organization of the meeting having been made permanent, 
the Chair was authorized to appoint a committee to arrange and certify 
the Articles of Association as amended and report as early as possible. 
As such committee Chairman Worthington appointed Commissioners 
Wilson, of Kentucky ; Perry, of Illinois ; and Huntington, of Ohio. 

On motion of Commissioner Manning, of Ohio, the Chair was also 
authorized to appoint a nominating committee, consisting of one Com- 
missioner from each participating State, to recommend a list of officers 
for the Inter-State Board, as provided for by the Articles of Association ; 
and thereupon the Chair appointed as such committee Commissioners 
Manning, of Ohio; Shreve, of Pennsylvania; Barnhart, of Michigan; 
Adams, of Illinois; Whitehead, of Wisconsin; Herrick, of New York; 
Mowry, of Rhode Island ; and Todd, of Kentucky. 

The meeting recessed until nine o'clock p. m., and upon reconvening 
the committee appointed to arrange and certify the Articles of Associa- 
tion made report, and the Articles were adopted. 

The committee appointed to nominate officers reported as follows : 
For President-General, George H. Worthington, of Ohio; for First \'ice- 
President-General, Henry Watterson, of Kentucky ; for Secretary-Gen- 
eral, Webster P. Huntington, of Ohio; for Treasurer-General, A. E. Sis- 



38 




GROUP OF COMMISSIONERS AT DETROIT, JUNE 4, 1912 
First row, from left to right, U. S. Commissioners Keifer and Miles; President General 
Worthington; U. S. Commissioner Davis; Auditor General Cutler. Second row. Commissioners 
Whitehead (Wis.). Johannsen (O.): Secretary General Huntington. Third row. Mayor Alex- 
ander. Put-in-Bav; Commissioner Sanborn (R. I.); Financial Secretary Todd; Commissioner 
Mowry (R. I.). 

son, of Pennsylvania ; for Auditor-General, Harry Cutler, of Rhode 

Island. These officers were unanimously elected for the prescribed term 

of one year, and have since been annually re-elected. In September. 

1915, the financial secretary of the Inter-State Board, wdio, prior to that 

time, had l^cen serving under appointment of the Executive Committee, 

was made a general olificer, and Mackenzie R. Todd, of Kentucky, was 

elected to succeed himself as such and has been re-elected at each annual 

meeting since that time. 

State \'ice-Presidents of the Inter-State Board were elected at the 

original meeting as follows : Ohio, Horace Holbrook ; Pennsylvania, 

Edwin H. \*are ; Michigan, Albert L. Stephens; Illinois, General Philip 

State Vice- 
C. Hayes; Wisconsin, Lieutenant-General Arthur MacArthur; New presidents 

York, Ogden P. Letchworth ; Rhode Island, Sumner Mowry; Kentucky, 
Colonel Andrew^ Cowan. \*arious modifications in the personnel of the 
State Mce-Presidents and Executive Committees occurred, as the years 
followed, in view of changes in the membership of various State Commis- 
sions. The names of the State \'ice-Presidents and members of the Exe- 
cutive Committee as existing during the period of the Centennial Cele- 
bration in 1913 appear in the chapter of this History devoted to the Cen- 
tennial Celebration. 



39 



Site of 
Memorial 



rederal 
Commis- 
sioners 



Lieutenant 

General 

Miles 



An important action of the first meeting of the Inter-State Board, the 
wisdom of which has been confirmed by the judgment of experts ami 
the unanimous approval of the public, was the adoption of a motion de- 
claring the site of the proposed Memorial recommended by the ()hi(> 
Commissioners to be acceptable to the Commissioners from all the par- 
ticipating States. This site is the reservation of fourteen acres on which 
the Memorial now stands. The meeting also commended the plans for 
a Centennial Celebration as far as then outlined by the Ohio Commis- 
sioners. 

The Inter-State Board was now in a position to deal with the joint 
problems relative to successfully carrying on the proposed Centennial 
Celebration and erecting the proposed Memorial, so far as the limited 
resources of that period permitted, but sorely needed the inspiratiim of 
Commissioners representing the United States Government as a part of 
its membership, as well as Federal aid in a financial sense. The financial 
aspect of these problems was assured in large measure, at least, by the 
passage in Congress of the act appropriating $250,000 tow^ard the Me- 
morial, on AFarch 3rd, 1911; and on May 5th, following. President Taft 
appointed as the United States Commissioners, provided for by the act. 
Lieutenant General Nelson A. ^Nliles. U. S. A., Ret., Rear-Admiral 
Charles E. Clark, U. S. N. Ret., and ^^lajor-General 1. A\'arren Keifer. of 
Ohio. 

These appointments were instantly recognized l)y the Commissioners 
of the several States and ])y the press throughout the country as placing 
the stamp of National approval upon the wdiole enterprise and insuring in 
the achievement of all its objects the co-operation of men of National 
reputation peculiarly fitted for the responsibilities which they gener- 
ously accepted. 

The appointment of Lieutenant General ^liles (See appendix F) com- 
plied with the provisions of the Articles of Association of the Inter-State 
Board and the Act of Congress relative to a representative of the L^nited 
States Army as one of the three Federal Commissioners to be appointed : 
.md it was exceedingly gratifying to all concerned that the President 
selected for this appointment the distinguished soldier whose services to 
his country were historic and who had been honored with the highest rank 
in the United States Army. General Miles at once l)egan a faithful co- 
operation wnth his fellow Commissioners of the Inter-State Board, which 
he has consistently pursued for six years, from the time of his appoint- 
ment to the writing of the present history. The erection of the Memorial 
has been a matter very near to his heart, as might have been expected, 
in view of his sense of the artistic proprieties, as well as his patriotism : 
and no service wdiich he could perform has been withheld from his 
colleagues, or in other directions from sources of helpfulness to the general 
cause. 



40 



Tlie appointment of Rear Admiral Clark (See appendix G) as t!ie 
United States Navy's representative on the Federal Commission was a 
further confirmation of the friendly interest which President Taft had 
always manifested toward the Memorial and Centennial Celebration proj- 
ects, inasmuch as it conferred upon the Inter-State Board the favor and 
prestige of the co-operation of one of the foremost naval heroes of the 
period. Rear Admiral Clark's famous exploit of the Spanish-American ^^^iral 
war in 1898, in Ijringing the Battleship Oregon on its unprecedented Clark 
voyage around the Pacific in the nick of time to play an essential ])art 
in the Battle of Santiago, was still fresh in the public mind. His appoint- 
ment was hailed with enthusiasm by his colleagues, and their personal 
attachment to him did not cease with his enforced resignation from the 
Federal Commission, by reason of ill health, in November, 1912. Dur- 
ing his term of service on the Inter-State Board he participated in many 
of its most important deliberations, attending the annual meeting at Put- 
in-Bay, September 8th and 9th, 1911, and the meetings of the Inter- 
State Board and Executive Committee at Washington, D. C, January 
29th, 1912, when the architectural competition to select the design of the 
Memorial was held luider the auspices of the National Fine Arts Com- 
mission and the award made to the successful architects. A notable inci- 
dent of his attendance upon the first session of the Board after his ap- 
pointment was his meeting with an old naval comrade, after a long 
period of years, in the person of Rear Admiral F. M. Symonds, U. S. N., 
Ret., then and since that time President of the Wisconsin Commission. 
The two naval officers had not met since their joint participation in the 
Battle of Santiago. The occasion was their presence, with other Com- 
missioners, on board the Ohio naval militia ship Dorothea, en route to 
Put-in-Bay. Following the resignation of Admiral Clark, the Sub-Com- 
mittee of the Inter-State Board adopted resolutions, later unanimously 
api)roved by the whole 1)ody, expressing the sense of loss entertained by 
all concerned in the erection of the Memorial "in being thus deprived of 
his further services,"' and referring to him as "one of the most distinguished 
friends of the enterprise." 

President Taft's appointment of General Keifer (See appendix H) as 
one of the Federal Commissioners was a fitting recognition of his in- 
valuable services as the author and special champion of the Memorial 

appropriation bill in Congress, but at the same time it served to honor a Major 

,,. , , / . , 1,-r f- T-.1 General 

soldier and statesman whose tame \n turn honored the Inter-State Board, Keifer 

and whose zeal and abilities when devoted to its objects, were calculated 
to result in the progress which those objects afterward achieved and for 
which he was in very large measure responsible. Of his faithful over- 
sight of the interests of the Inter-State Board in National legislation, the 
facts are related in the present work, in the chapter devoted to the Me- 
morial bill in Congress. Throughout the period of the Memorial's con- 

41 



Rear 
Admiral 



struction, however, and in all matters pertaining to the Centennial Cele- 
bration and concerning legislation in many States favorable to those 
objects, General Keifer exhibited a devotion to the interests of the 
Inter-State Board that became an inspiration to his colleagues. He was 
the able legal adviser of the Board and in his service on various impor- 
tant committees and otherwise steadfastly represented the Federal Com- 
missioners, by their expressed wish. No helpful act was too small or too 
great for him to undertake — all at a great and prolonged sacrifice of his 
valuable time and personal convenience. 

The vacancy on the Federal Commission occasioned by the resigna- 
tion of Rear Admiral Clark was promptly and worthily filled by Presi- 
dent Taft, by the appointment of Rear Admiral Charles H. Davis, U. S. 
N., Ret., as his successor (See Appendix I). Rear Admiral Davis began 
his association with the Inter-State Board at a time most opportune for 
Davis the useful service which he subsequently rendered. The design of the 

Memorial had been adopted, but building operations had just begun. 
Plans for the Centennial Celebration and the restoration of Commodore 
Perry's flagship, the Niagara, in the latter of which the new Federal ap- 
pointee played an essential and enthusiastic part, were in embryo. The 
resources of the Inter-State Board were yet to be devoted to the objects 
for which it had been created, and its greater executive responsibilities 
still belonged to the future. Rear Admiral Davis at once entered, with 
characteristically patriotic interest, upon the work before him, giving 
freely of his time and energy to the important details of the Memorial's 
construction and the fitting celebration of the one hundredth anniversary 
of the Battle of Lake Erie, but in particular establishing a lasting obliga- 
tion to his invaluable services as an expert, rendered in the restoration of 
the Niagara, on the part of his fellow Commissioners, the generation of 
that period and posterity. 

Indeed, the co-operation with the Inter-State Board of the three 
United States Commissioners wdio as such witnessed the success of the 
Centennial Celebration and the completion of the Memorial, suggests a 
Providential element in their appointment — Lieutenant General Miles, 
for his progressive spirit and strict construction of official responsibilities ; 
General Keifer, for his experience in legislation, his legal acumen and 
persistent devotion to necessary tasks ; Rear Admiral Davis, for his faith- 
ful conception of public duty, his moderation in counsel and his essential 
qualifications as a student of naval science and history, employed with 
such success in the restoration of the Niagara; and all three for their 
distinction as citizens of the Republic, which their services in conjunc- 
tion with the Commissioners of the several States reflected upon the 
Inter-State Board. 

Throughout its career of nearly seven years, up to the present time, 
the Inter-State Board has wisely delegated many of its powers to com- 

42 



mittees, in addition to the Executive Committee. The most important of 
these have consisted of the General Officers and Federal Commissioners, 
working together practically as a board of directors, and the Building Important 
Committee, composed of President-General Worthington, First Vice- 
President-General Watterson, and United States Commissioner ?yliles, 
with the Secretary General as Secretary. 

Legislative committees were appointed at various times, under the 
efficient chairmanship of Treasurer-General Sisson in the earlier period 
of the Inter-State Board's afifairs, and of Auditor-General Cutler at a 
later period. The Committee on Centennial Celebration consisted of 
Commissioner Shreve, of Pennsylvania, as Chairman ; and Commis- 
sioners Mooney, Parker, Herrick, A\'escott, Perry, of Illinois, ^^'ils()n and 
Davis, of Rhode Island. The Committee on the Put-in-Bay Celebration, 
extending from the 4th of July to September 10th, 1913, at Put-in-Bay 
Island, consisted of Commissioner John P. Sanborn. Chairman ; and 
Commissioners \\^hitehead and Parker. The Committee on Souvenirs 
consisted of Commissioners Sisson and Cutler. The Committee on In- 
scriptions W'ithin the Memorial was composed of United States Com- 
missioner Keifer, First Vice-President-General Watterson, and Com- 
missioners Sanborn and Whitehead. 

By an amendment to the Articles of Association, adopted at the an- 
nual meeting held September 9th. 1911. it was provided that the Presi- 
dent-General should be a member ex-officio, and the Secretary-General, 
Secretary ex-officio, of all committees. 

The construction of the ^Memorial and the success which attended the 
Centennial Celebration in all particulars must be largely attributed to 
the zeal and personal sacrifice of the Commissioners who constituted Mutual 
these committees. They gave unsparingly of their time and mental and Co-opera- 
material resources, without compensation, for the achievement of the 
objects in view, which had been utterly incapable of consummation with- 
out their painstaking and patriotic co-operation and oversight of all the 
important affairs entrusted to the Inter-State Board by the Federal and 
State Governments. 

For three years, up to the Centennial summer of 1913. the Inter-State 
Board was accustomed to meet in various cities, the object being to 
cultivate wide-spread interest in the Centennial and Memorial. 

The official records and documents of the Board (See appendix J) 
have been preserved and at all times open to the public and will even- 
tually be deposited within the Memorial. 

The Inter-State Board is a voluntary association which will necessarily 
endure, at least until the Federal Government takes over the Memorial 
property, as provided for by act of the Ohio General Assembly ceding 
the Memorial and reservation of fourteen acres to the United States, but 
at this time awaiting action of Congress for its acceptance. 

43 



Meanwhile it is worthy of note that the cordial and even fraternal 
relations existing between the meml)ers of the Board for a period of 
seven years would be happily attested by all of them, if their mutual con- 
fidence and respect could be voiced in these pages. The success which 
has attended their labors has been due in large measure to the fact that 
they worked together as friends. 




44 



Ohio 



DURING the period of nine years from the appointment of the original 
Commission by General Andrew L. Harris, June 22, 1908, to the 
publication of the present History, fourteen citizens of the State of 
Ohio served as Commissioners of the Perry's Victory Centennial and for the 
construction of the Perry's Victory Memorial, under authority of two joint 
resolutions passed by the Oliio General Assembly. 

The original Commission consisted of George H. Worthington, of Cleve- 
land; Webster P. Huntington, of Columbus; S. M. Johannsen, of Put-in- commis- 
Bay; Brand Whitlock. of Toledo, and William H. Reinhart, of Sandusky. sioners 

In its report to the Governor of Ohio, on January 12, 1909, this Com- 
mission recommended that the General Assembly authorize the Governor to 
appoint four additional Commissioners, making a permanent Commission of 
nine members, and in accordance with legislation to that end Governor 
ludson Harmon, in 1909, appointed as such additional Commissioners Horace 
Holbrook. of Warren; Colonel Webb C. Hayes, of Fremont; William C. 
Mooney, of Woodsfield, and Eli Winkler, of Cincinnati. 

Commissioner Whitlock, finding his duties as Mayor of Toledo inconsistent 
with the service required of him as a member of the Commission, resigned 
from the Board March 31, 1909. but not without manifesting, meanwhile, his 
earnest interest in its objects, which were explained to him in various per- 
sonal interviews with perhaps more enthusiasm, and pointing to higher am- 
bitions, than the conditions of the enterprise then warranted. 

"It is with regret," he wrote to the Secretary, "that I relinciuish the 
pleasure I would have found in being associated with you in this splendid 
and patriotic project, and you know that my good wishes go with you in 
your good work." 

No successor to Commissioner Whitlock was appointed until eight months 

after his resignation. In November, 1909, Governor Judson Harmon named 

John J. Manning, of Toledo, to fill the vacancy. 

Commissioners Reinhart and Huntington resigned in Julv, 1910, the latter 

^ fA r 1 Ai • /-A • • Reorgamza- 

in order to contmue m the position of Secretary ot the Ohio Commission, .^ion 

and later to accept that of Secretary-General of the Inter-State Board. Gen- 
eral A. J. Warner, of Marietta, was appointed by Governor Harmon to suc- 
ceed Commissioner Reinhart, and Horace L. Chapman, of Columbus, to 
succeed Commissioner Huntington. Thereupon, General Warner was elected 
President of the Commission. During the interim between the resignation 

45 



of President Reinhart and the election of President Warner, Vice President 
Worthington performed the duties of Acting President of the Commission. 

General Warner died August 13, 1910, and in December, 1911, Governor 
Harmon appointed John H. Clarke, of Cleveland (see Appendix K), as his 
successor, and thereupon Mr. Clarke was elected President of the Com- 
mission, in which capacity he continues to the present time. During the 
interim, Vice President Worthington had served as Acting President. 

Commissioner Hayes resigned in September, 1911, and was succeeded by 
Commissioner Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati. Commissioner Planning 
died July 11, 1912, and was succeeded by Commissioner George W. Dun, of 
Toledo, by appointment of Governor James ^\. Cox, in May, 1913. Mr. Dun 
died December 19, 1914. 
Tribute Expressing their sentiments in view of the bereavements which the Grim 

of Sorrow Reaper had thus wrought among them, the Commissioners said, in a report 
to the Governor of Ohio under date of February 20, 1910: "We deplore, 
with affectionate remembrance and regret, the death of those of our col- 
leagues who relinquished, with their lives, the hope of witnessing the com- 
pletion of the great Memorial which now overlooks the historic scene of the 
Battle of Lake Erie and the picturesque islands of our inland seas, a mutely 
magnificent tribute to the patriotism of the American people; but we rejoice 
that their devotion to this cause has been so nobly vindicated." 

The law relating to the service of Commissioners provided that they should 
receive no compensation except their necessary and actual expenses. As a 
matter of fact only five of the fourteen Commissioners charged the State for 
such expenses, and these were gentlemen in such circumstances of life as 
would not admit of their doing otherwise in justice to themselves or the 
interests of the State. The remaining nine Commissioners at all times served 
at their own expense, and in certain cases at great personal sacrifice. 

The personnel of the original Commission of five members was undoubt- 
edly suggested to Governor Harris by the citizens of Put-in-Bav, with a 
view to practical results and the eternal fitness of things from their point of 
view, and the diplomacy required for the execution of their wishes in the 
matter was intrusted to Mr. Diegle. 

At that time the object in view was limited to a centennial celebration of 
the Battle of Lake Erie, local in scope though National in significance ; and 
a Commission of five members, four of whom were citizens of Lake Erie 
communities, was supposed to be sufficiently representative of the whole 
State. That the Commissioners thus appointed soon recognized the fact that 
this was not the case, was indicated by the early increase of their nimiber to 
nine persons, at their own request. Nevertheless, in respect to some of the 
original appointments, the "Story of the Memorial" reveals the unquestion- 
able truth that they were essential, in the sense ordinarily regarded as Prov- 
idential, to the greater destinies of an enterprise whose subsequent develop- 
ment was at that time unforeseen by all. 

46 




PIONEERS OF THE MEMORIAL EXTERPRISK AT PUT-IN-BAY, JULY 27, 1910. 
Lower row, from left to right: Commissioner S. M. Johannsen, Treasurer Ohio Commission; 
Commodore George H. Worthington, Vice-President; General A. J. Warner, President; Commis- 
sioner Horace Holbrook. Upper row, left to right: Rodney J. Diegle; Commissioner Webster P. 
Huntington, Secretary; John Eisenmann. Architect. 

The appointment of Commodore George H. Worthington (see Appendix 
L) was due in a measure to his prominence in the industrial and commercial 
world as a citizen of Cleveland, the greatest Lake port of Ohio, hut perhaps 
still more to his devotion to the interests of Put-in-Bay, hy many of whose 
citizens he was regarded as a personal friend. His career as a yachtsman 
and his inborn love of the inland seas were considerations which appealed 
forcibly to a people whose first pride was their Island home and its pictur- 
esque environment. His experience as Commodore of the Cleveland Yacht 
Club and of the Inter-Lake Yachting Association inevitably suggested him 
as an ideal director of any celebration having in view the maritime interests 
of the Lake region ; and his broadness of view and liberality touching any 
enterprise near his heart assured for the objects contemplated by his appoint- 
ment the co-operation of an enthusiast. 

Mavor Whitlock was not only the municipal head, but the foremost citizen, 
of Toledo; Mr. Reinhart had been prominent in the business life of San- 
dusky, and the appointment of Air. Johannsen, among all the citizens of the 
Lake Erie Islands, was the logical one to be made, for the very proper and 
useful purpose of local representation on the Board. 

The entrance of Commissioners Worthington and Johannsen into the life 

47 



Commis- 
sioner 
Worthington 



Commis- 
sioner 
Johannsen 



of the Memorial enterprise and the plans for the Centennial Celebration, 
marked the beginning of two remarkable personal relationships to both 
objects, which events proved potent for, if not indispensable to, their success. 

It was with the utmost reluctance, and as the result of no little persuasion, 
that Commissioner Worthington, who up to that time had served willingly 
as Vice President and President Pro Tempore of the Ohio Commission, ac- 
cepted the office of President-General of the Inter-State Board, unanimously 
conferred upon him by that body at its first meeting, September 1(», liUO. 
Upon him had fallen, as Mce President of the Commission, the burden of its 
executive responsibilities, during the month which had elapsed since the 
death of President Warner, who died but a little more than a month after 
his appointment as a Commissioner. 'Mr. Worthington also continued as 
l^resident Pro Tempore during the ensuing year and three months which 
Governor Harmon permitted to elapse before appointing John H. Clarke to 
the vacancy. 

liut upon the formation of the Inter-State Board the conviction was uni- 
versal among the Commissioners in attendance that an Ohio Commissioner 
sh(!uld be the head of the organization representing the National Govern- 
ment and all the participating States; and Mr. Worthington yielded to the 
general demand that he accept the office of President General. It was for- 
tunate, indeed, that the situation presented at that time so resolved itself. 
President General Worthington at once entered upon the business of the 
Inter-State Board with the same zeal, industry and ability Avhich he had been 
accustomed to devote to his personal affairs. He was not only exact in all 
the multitudinous details of his great responsibility, but most generous in 
giving liberally of his means in behalf of what he conceived to be the good 
of the cause. His business judgment was brought to bear upon all the 
]iroblems of the Inter-State Board, which were not only great in number but 
often gravely perplexing — problems of finance, of management and even of 
diplomacy which would have tried the patience and the resources of any 
man. This invaluable service was rendered continuously and at great per- 
sonal sacrifice during six years prior to the completion of the ]\Iemorial and 
thereafter in respect to the details of its management and control. 

Mr. Johannsen sustained toward the Memorial an interest more keenly 
personal than that of any other Commissioner. A resident of Put-in-Bay 
from voung manhood, the general attachment of its inhabitants to their Island 
home was strongly emphasized in his loyal nature. He followed, and often 
led, the progress of events toward the erection of a fitting Memorial, as the 
realization of a dream which at one period had seemed too hopeless to enter- 
tain with patience. But his spirit never faltered at the thought that it was a 
dream only. He led in the organization of the citizens of Put-in-Bay which 
at the beginning of the joint Centennial and Memorial projects was essential 
to the success of both. This organization financed the early operations of the 



48 



Ohio Commissioners and helped materially to provide the site of the ]\Iemor- 
ial. From January, 1908, to October, 1913, the Board of Trade of Put-in- 
Bay, of which Mr. Johannsen was President, devoted from subscriptions of 
its members $11,000 to the objects of the Ohio Commission and Inter-State 
Board, of which $6,400 was for the site of the Memorial — a liberal appro- 
priation, indeed, when compared with the resources of the donors. Com- 
missioner Johannsen was the first and only Treasurer of the Ohio Commis- 
sion and as such disbursed $182,548.88, its total funds, upon warrants of the 
I'resident and Secretary, twice receiving: the official commendation of the 
Auditor of State of Ohio, upon the conclusion of Department investigations 
of his accounts, for his faithful discharge of the responsibility entrusted to 
him, performed at all times without compensation. Meanwhile his counsel 
was invaluable to the General Officers of the Inter-State Board and its 
various committees. Regarded, in the early stages of the project, as visionary 
by the skeptical Islanders, who included practically all the inhabitants of 
Put-in-Bay except the comparatively few who stood by him in his devotion 
to the cause. Commissioner Johannsen observed the growth of the ^lemorial 
idea and the tedious erection of the Memorial itself as a child of his imagina- 
tion, rising above the historic island scenes he loved. As a fitting climax of 
his devotion he was appointed Custodian of the Memorial by the committee 
of the Inter-State Board having charge of its operation. 

It is perhaps worthy of note that, among the seventy-odd Commissioners 
representing the Federal Government and the States participating in the 
erection of the Memorial, only three were privileged to recall, u])on its com- 
pletion, that they had served as such from the inception of the enterprise to 
its successful conclusion. They were Commissioners \\'orthington, Johann- 
sen and Huntington, of Ohio. 

Governor Harmon's appointment of John H. Clarke, of Cleveland, as a Commis- 
Commissioner in 1911. was virtually an appointment to the presidency of the sioner 
Commission, for the death of General Warner had created a vacancv in that 
office which the Governor had too long permitted to exist, and it was felt by 
all concerned that the time was critical for State recognition of the existine: 
vacancy by the election, as President of the Commission, of a citizen of Ohio 
whose qualifications and reputation would fittingly attest the Common- 
wealth's interest in the proposed Centennial Celebration and the construction 
of a Memorial truly National in character. This, the appointment of Judge 
Clarke happily accomplished. Upon being unanimously elected President of 
the Ohio Commission, he entered actively upon its work as such and as an 
important factor in the responsibilities of 'the Inter-State Board. He par- 
ticipated in the plans and very prominently in the several public exercises of 
the Celebration, attended the memorable meeting at Washington of the Inter- 
State Board and National Commission of Fine Arts for the selection of the 
design of the Memorial, carefully supervised the disbursements of the Ohio 
Commission, manifested a deep interest in the cruise of the Niagara, with 

49 



which he was closely associated by reason of the financiiio: of her escort by 
the Ohio Naval INIilitia, which the Ohio Commission undertook and carried 
out from Ji-dy 4th to September 11th, 1913, and at all times gave freely of his 
counsel and activities to every task confronting him and his colleagues in 
connection with all the details of his office and his relationship to the general 
organization. Tt was during this period of his long service in public life 
that Judge Clarke was appointed, by President Wilson. Judge of the Federal 
Court for the, Northern District of Ohio, and subsequently Associate Justice 
of the Supreme Court of the United States. Replying to a telegram of 
felicitation on the latter distinction from First A'ice-President General W'at- 
terson, Justice Clarke said, under date of July 10th. 191(): "I think we all 
should pride ourselves upon the fact that we erected a Perry's Mctory ^Me- 
morial so beautiful and appropriate that the country will become prouder and 
prouder of it as the years pass by :" and to the Secretary-General of the Inter- 
state Board, in response to resolutions of congratulations adopted by that 
body, he wrote: "I shall always remember my connection with the Perry's 
A'ictory Memorial enterprise as one of the pleasantest experiences of my life." 
Individually all the Ohio Commissioners were devoted to the enterprise, 
and collectively they promoted it in a spirit of the greatest harmony. Cir- 
cumstances decreed that some should play a more important part in it than 
others, but everv step of progress was achieved by the co-operation or with 
the approval of all. 
A ro ria- ^^^ ^^^^ Centennial Celebration and the construction of the ^lemorial. the 

tions State of Ohio made appropriations as follows: ^March Vi, 1!»(»1>. for ex- 

penses of the Commission, $3,000; April 2(\, 1910, for Memorial building. 
$25,000; April 2G. 1910. for actual expenses, $5,000; May 2. 1911. f<:r site 
of the Memorial. $5,000; }^Iay 31, 1911, for Memorial and Centennial. $15.- 
00(1; April ^S, 1913, for the ]\Iemorial and Centennial and for incidental 
educational purposes in the public schools and other educational institutions 
of Ohio, and for the proper participation of the Naval Militia in the Centen- 
nial Celebration, and to aid in entertaining the President of the United States 
and other distinguished guests. $115,000. Of this total of $198,000 the sum 
of $15,451.12 lapsed to the State Treasury from the appropriation for gen- 
eral purposes in 1911, so that the total sum appropriated by the State of 
Ohio, for all purposes in connection with the Centennial Celebration and 
Memorial, was $182,548.88. 

From the foregoing appropriations the Ohio Commissioners devoted a 
much larger sum, exclusively to the construction of the Memorial, than was 
required or suggested by any legislation on the subject. The only sugges- 
tion of a definite amount required to be so segregated for the ]\Iemorial out 
of the Ohio appropriations was contained in the preamble of an appropria- 
tion bill, indicating that the sum expected by the General Assembly to be 
thus expended should be not less than $75,000. As a matter of fact, the 
Ohio Commissioners devoted $126,000 to the Memorial contracts and the 

'■50 



incidental costs of construction, site, etc., and a very considerable additional 
sum to expenses necessarily incident thereto. For a period of years all the 
cost of engao;ino- the co-operation of the National and State Governments 
devolved upon the Ohio Commissioners, the initiatory steps in behalf of 
other appropriations having been necessarily undertaken by them ; and this 
condition continued until the Pennsylvania Commissioners, having received 
their first State appropriation, generously shared equally with Ohio this 
financial responsibility, pending action by other States. 

The course of legislation in Ohio was not a path of roses. The joint reso- ohio 
lution authorizing the appointment of Commissioners, adopted bv the 7Tth. Legislation 
General Assembly in 1908, contained no hint of an appropriation to carry 
out its aim. and while the action of both houses in reference to it had been 
inianimous, the situation assumed a very different aspect when money was 
required to further the plans of the Commissioners. The first appropriation 
asked for w^as $10,000, in identical bills introduced in the H'ouse by Repre- 
sentative Charles W. Kempel, of Summit County, and in the Senate by 
Senator F. ^1. Clevenger, of Clinton County. The Senate committee, report- 
ing the bill favorably, reduced the appropriation to $.").000. and the House 
Committee to $o,000, and the latter sum was finally agreed upon. This was 
under the first administration of Governor Judson Harmon. In April, 1!)10, 
following the organization of the Inter-State Board, the enterprise had prog- 
ressed so far in pul)lic favor that the General Assembly appropriated $25,- 
(M)() for a memorial building and $5,000 for expenses. In liUl, $45,000 was 
appropriated for the Memorial and Centennial Celebration and $5,000 for 
the site of the ^Memorial. 

I'nder the first administration of Governor Tames ]\I. Cox. who as a mem- „ 

-' Governor 

ber of Congress had been helpful in obtaining the Federal appropriation, the James M. 
Memorial and Centennial enterprises received the impetus of very general ^^ 
public favor, and the representatives of the people, with the full approval of 
the Governor, responded by an appropriation of $115,000. to be devoted to 
both objects, of which the sum of $15,451.12 represented an amount which 
had reverted to the treasury from the appropriation of 1911. Ohio's legisla- 
tion therefore extended over a period of four years and included seven dis- 
tinct and separate acts. 

It could not have been obtained without the co-operation of manv persons 
in ofiicial life, outside of the Commissioners, to whom the Commissioners 
and the people must always feel grateful for assistance rendered at a most 
critical period. Among these a sense of obligation requires the mention, in 
connection with the earliest period of activity, of Auditor of State E. M. 

Fullington, Secretarv to the Governor George S. Long, Attornev General ^-r , ^ , 

• ^ ^ " Helpful 

L . G. Denman, Chairman Harry L. Goodbread, of the House Finance Com- Friends 
mittee. Lieutenant Governor Francis B. Treadway and Representative Cvrus 
P). Winters, of Erie County ; and at a later period, under Governor Cox, 
Representative John Cowan, Chairman of the House Finance Committee, 

31 



Auditor of State A. V. Donahey, Lieutenant Governor Hugh M. Nichols and 
Attorney General Timothy S. Hogan. Judge George B. Okey, the eminent 
constitutional lawyer of Columbus, generously donated his services as the 
legal adviser of the Ohio Commission at all times and was most helpful in 
the technique of legislation. 

Only the limitations of space forbid the acknowdedgment of the co-opera- 
tion of other patriotic Ohioans, in public and private life, who from the most 
unselfish motives rendered invaluable service to the cause. 




52 



Pennsylvania 



A Veritable 



THE history of the Pennsylvania Commission is so intimately related 
to the history of the Inter-State Board, and vice versa, that it would 
be impossible to chronicle the one without incorporating the other 
in the narrative. Pennsylvania was veritably a "Keystone State" in all 
matters relatine: to the erection of the Memorial and the Centennial Cele- 
bration of 1913. And to her indispensable aid of these projects she had the 
high privilege of adding the restoration of Commodore Perry's flagship in 
the Battle of Lake Erie, the Niagara, and the preservation of that historic 
relic, following her participation in the various local celebrations of the 
centennial summer, as one of the priceless heirlooms of the Commonwealth. 

It is no more than just to declare that, had Pennsylvania failed to enter 
the joint Memorial and Centennial enterprises at the precise time she 
patriotically and generously embarked in them, both would have languished 
at least for a long time and in all probability never would have materialized KeystorTe" 
in fact. And it is equally just to record that, if it had not been for the in- 
valuable services of the Pennsylvania Commissioners immediately following 
their appointment and consistently thereafter, the generosity of the State 
would have been unavailing to accomplish the great objects which have since 
been achieved. To those familiar with the truth of the situation, these ob- 
servations must always have special significance as applied to A. E. Sisson, 
Treasurer-General of the Inter-State Board and President of the Pennsyl- 
vania Commission. (See Appendix \L) 

The participation of Pennsylvania began with the visit of President Rein- 
hart, of the Ohio Commission, and the author of the present history, to 
Harrisburg in April, 1909, by authority of a resolution adopted by the Ohio 
Commissioners, March 31, 1909. Pennsylvania was thus the first State ap- 
proached by the State of Ohio in the program adopted by the Ohio Com- 
missioners for obtaining the participation of the States bordering on the 
Great Lakes in the erection of the Memorial and the Centennial Celebration. 
The participation of Rhode Island and Kentucky was at that time no more 
than hinted at. 

We arrived in Harrisburg on April 8th and were very courteously re- 
ceived by Governor Edwin S. Stuart, who manifested a most kindly interest 
in our mission when explained to him. L"n fortunately, we had planned no 
previous introduction. 

It was to our utter dismay, therefore, when Governor Stuart told us very 

53 




<: 


t*- 


^ 


' — 














>-< 


o 


■J) 




g; 


h 


y^ 





frankly that in his opinion the prospect for legislation to promote our objects 
was utterly hopeless. He explained that a definite day for adjournment of 
the Legislature had been fixed within the next few days ; that the calendars 
of both Houses were so congested that adjournment would leave behind 
much unfinished business, to say nothing of additional legislation ; that the 
Legislature was working all day and holding all night sessions and had been 
doing so for some time, and that in both Houses resolutions had been adopted 
discountenancing the introduction of new legislation. 

Here was a dilemma. It seemed folly to go on to the other States contem- 
plated in our program for that season — ]\lichigan, Illinois and Wisconsin — 
if Pennsylvania, the first State approached, should turn a deaf ear to our 
solicitations. For the moment the whole object of our mission seemed 
doomed. 

It occurred to me that perhaps there might be. in the Senate or House, or 
both, some member from Erie, Pa., who might be induced to make a special 
effort in this crisis, in view of Erie's important historical connection with the 
War of 181-?. I asked Governor Stuart if this might not be the case. 

"Yes," he replied, "there is Senator Sisson, of Erie, the President pro tem 
of the Senate. I will send my Secretary with you, to introduce you to him." 

Drowning men grasp at straws, but here appeared the vision of a life 
preserver. We went over to the Senate chamber, escorted by the Governor's 
Secretary. Senator Sisson was presiding when we entered, and some time 
was required for him to leave the chair in order to meet us. It was now 
afternoon, and but three more days of the legislative session remained. 

When we explained, very briefly and inadequately, the object of our visit 
to Senator Sisson, he advised us to return in the evening, as a night session 
was to be held, and promised meanwhile to think the matier over. When 
we returned in the evening, the press of business required him to suggest 
that we retire and come again at midnight. When we came again at mid- 
!iight. the Senator sent us word from the chair to remain until he could see 
us, and it was four o'clock in the morning when we had that privilege. 

Senator Sisson took us into the private office of the presiding officer of the 
Senate and to our delight began a keen inc|uiry into all the details of the 
enterprise, indicating that since afternoon he had developed a personal in- 
terest in the project. He asked if we had prepared a resolution to be intro- 
clucetl. Here we were lame again ; that important detail had been overlooked. 
Air. Reinhart insisted that, notwithstanding we were thus unprepared, I 
could turn out resolutions like lumber from a sawmill. The Senator laugh- 
ingly agreed to the suggestion, and very shortly I handed him the following- 
draft : 

Whereas. The centennial anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie, which 
witnessed the momentous triumph of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and 
his gallant men in the crowning struggle of the \\^ar of 1S12, will occur in 
the \'ear ]!>13 ; and 



Gloomy 
Outlook 



Erie to 
the Rescue 



First Action 
of Partici- 
pating 
States 



oo 



Fast 
Progress 



Whereas, The State of Ohio, by action of her Executive and Legislative 
authorities has formulated preliminary plans to celebrate this anniversary in 
a fitting manner by means of an historical and educational exposition at 
Put-In-Bay Island during the summer of 1913, and has created a Board of 
Commissioners to carry said plans forward and to invite therein the co- 
operation of the States bordering on the Great Lakes ; and 

Whereas, The State of Pennsylvania is historically and patrioticallv deeply 
interested in the event which it is now proposed to commemorate ; therefore 
be it 

Resolved, If the House of Representatives concur, that the Governor be 
and hereby is authorized to appoint a commission of five members, composed 
of citizens of Pennsylvania, to consult and co-operate in this laudable enter- 
prise with the Commissioners from Ohio and such other states as may 
participate in the proposed celebration. The Commissioners thus appointed 
will_ serve without compensation and make report to the Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania relative to the progress of the objects in view, prior to the session of 
the General Assembly in the year 1911. 

Senator Sisson read the resolution over carefully, noting the necessarv 
technical changes, and promised to do what he could to secure its passage 
by the Senate on the following day, under conditions which would require 
unanimous consent even for its consideration. With some exchanges of 
felicitations, he asked us to meet him in the Senate chamber at nine o'clock 
in the morning. 

At that hour next day we found him in advance of us. The Senate had 
not yet reconvened, and we were pleased to observe that he was proselyting 
among the members. Presently, as presiding officer he called another Senator 
to the chair, took the floor himself, explained the mission of the visiting Ohio 
Commissioners, asked unanimous consent for a suspension of the rule gov- 
erning new legislation, and in response to his persuasion the resolution 
passed unanimously. 

We hurried toward the entrance to the Senate chamber, as we saw Senator 
Sisson plunging in that direction when the result was known. 

"Now come over to the House," he said. It was not yet noon. 

Halfway over we encountered a group of gentlemen who proved to be 
Representatives, and among whom was Milton W. Shreve, of Erie, Republi- 
can floor leader of the House. Senator Sisson paused and introduced us. 
He hurriedly explained to Mr. Shreve the object of our visit and what had 
just happened in the Senate and asked his colleague from Erie to take charge 
of the resolution in the House. 

"But, Senator," protested Mr. Shreve, "I can't do that. The House has 
adopted a resolution prohibiting the introduction of new business." 

Senator Sisson added persuasion to argument. 

"But I can't do it," persisted Mr. Shreve, "because I introduced the reso- 
lution myself. It would seem unjustifiable for me to be the first to violate a 
program which I myself submitted to the House." 

In those days the loyalty of the Republicans of Pennsylvania to their State 

56 



Commis- 
sioners 



organization was proverbial and not infreqnently the subject of reproachful 
jests by their poHtical opponents. It was said that the Repubhcans in the 
Legislature "took orders" from those in control. 

"Shreve," said Senator Sisson, with a twinkle in his eye, "take your 
orders." 

Mr. Shreve saluted and turned toward the House, the three of us follow- 
ing. He obtained recognition within a few moments after entering the 
chamber, moved the re-consideration and obtained the suspension of his own 
resolution, offered the joint resolution which had just passed the Senate, 
after some explanatory remarks, and within fifteen minutes after our ap- 
pearance on the scene it passed the House unanimously. 

Within seven weeks substantially the same resolution had passed the legis- 
latures of Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. Pennsylvania had set the pace, 
and a union of States for the erection of the Memorial was assured. 

Under the authority conferred upon him by the joint resolution Governor 
Stuart appointed as the Pennsylvania Commissioners of the Perry's Victorv 
Centennial, Senator A. E. Sisson, of Erie ; Senator Edwin H. A'are, of Phila- 
delphia ; Representative ]\Iilton W. Shreve, of Erie; Judge T. C. Jones, of 
McKeesport ; and Dr. George W. Xeft'. of Masontown. The Commission 
thus constituted shortly afterward organized by the election of ]\Ir. Sisson, 
President: ^Ir. A'are, A'ice President; Judge Jones, Secretary, and Dr. Xeff, 
Treasurer. 

This organization remained intact during all the period from its creation 
to the present time, a period of eight years, witnessing and taking a leading 
part in plans for the Centennial Celebration, the development of the Memorial 
idea and the construction of the ^ilemorial, the great celebration at Erie in 
July, 1913, and through legislation financed, and by means of careful over- 
sight assured the success of the restoration of the Niagara. 

Two years following the adoption of the resolution providing for the ap- 
pointment of Commissioners, the Legislature of Pennsylvania appropriated 
$100, ()()() for the objects which by that time had been practically formulated 
by the Inter-State Board. The Pennsylvania Appropriation Act not onlv 

took cognizance of the erection of the Memorial but iealouslv s:uarded the . 
, . "^ . .' . t^ Appro- 

historical interests of the state in reference to the Centennial Celebration and priation 

the raising of the Niagara. Its terms were so cautious that the Pennsylvania 
Commissioners could have proceeded with the special objects of their own 
State in making the appropriation, even if the Inter-State Board had failed 
in its own peculiar objects; for the act concluded with the proviso, "that no 
part of the money hereby appropriated shall be available for said celebration 
until the Commissioners appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania are 
satisfied that a sufficient sum has been appropriated by the United States and 
the States participating for the completion of said Memorial, excepting, how- 
ever, that said Commission may expend from said appropriation such an 
amount as it may deem appropriate and advisable, under all the circum- 

57 



A Memorial 
at Erie 



First 
Meeting 
of States 



stances, to be used to properly recognize the fact, in connection with said 
proceedings, that the fleet commanded by Commodore Perry at the IJattle 
of Lake Erie was constructed in Pennsylvania and sailed from the port of 
Erie to meet Barclay and the British fleet, returning after the battle to 
Presque Isle Bay at that place, with all of the enemy living as prisoners of 
war and all of his ships as spoils of war — at which place the wounded oT 
both sides were nursed — and where at the bottom of the Bay now lie the 
remains of the Niagara, to which Commodore Perry during the battle trans- 
ferred his flag from the disabled Lawrence." 

This legislation, inspired by the Pennsylvania Commissioners, w^as a bugle 
call to the construction of the fitting memorial proposed by the Ohio Com- 
missioners and required by the Act of Congress, and at the same time it 
conserved the then idealistic scheme for the restoration of the Niagara. 

In 1013 the Pennsylvania Legislature appropriated $50,000 additional, for 
the erection of a memorial at Erie, to commemorate the building of the fleet 
in that harbor, the Niagara having been meanwhile raised and fully equipped 
as of yore, floating at her original anchorage of a century previous. 

The funds from the appropriation of $100,000 by Pennsylvania no sooner 
became available than they were generously placed at the disposal of the 
only inter-state organization then existing, so far as financial responsibility 
was concerned, the States of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The latter shared 
equally the expenses of the former, until a joint fund was formed composed 
of the appropriations by the Federal Government and all of the i^articipating 
States. In the absence of such a working agreement it would have been 
perhaps impossible to carry out the objects then held in view and since 
consummated. 

For eight years the Pennsylvania Commissioners have discharged with 
singular faithfulness the responsibilities of their appointment, attending al- 
most all meetings of the Inter-State Board in a body and directing their 
energies to legislation in Congress and other States. They performed a 
most critical service when at the first meeting of any inter-state bodv con- 
cerned in the erection of a memorial, held at Toledo December ;>, 11»0!», and 
attended by Commissioners from Ohio, Pennsylvania, [Michigan and Illinois, 
among whom Commissioners Sisson and Shreve represented the State of 
Pennsylvania, they inspired those present with the purpose of going forward 
to erect a great Memorial, exceedin-^' any conception of it theretofore enter- 
tained. They gave the Niagara to the Nation and will give to Pennsylvania, 
as a fitting token of the honor which that State bestowed u])on them, the 
noble monument at Erie which will commemorate the building of Com- 
modore Perry's fleet in that harbor. 

Upon the organization of the Inter-State lioard in 1I»1(). Commissioner 
Sisson was elected Treasurer-General and since that time has been annually 
re-elected. Always an enthusiast and a vital force in ev^erything pertaining 
to the ?\lemorial and Centennial Celebration, his devotion to the cause stopped 

58 



at no service which he could possibly render. He was essentially instru- 
mental in obtaining" the National appropriation of $250,000 for the construc- 
tion of the Memorial. As chairman and a member of various important 

committees of the Inter-State Board he was untiring in acts of helpfulness Commis- 

. . sioner 

and invaluable in counsel. He gave liberally of his time and energy to legis- sisson 

lation in many States. Faithfully he safeguarded the interests of the Penn- 
sylvania Commission as President of that body, and his zeal never faltered in 
respect to the activities of his colleagues of Pennsylvania or those of the 
Inter-State Board. As Treasurer-General of the latter he disbursed funds, 
upon vouchers of the President-General and Secretary-General, covering all 
the large and manifold expenses of the construction of the ^lemorial, the 
Centennial Celebration and the operation and management of the ^lemorial 
after its completion. No service could have been more vital than his for the 
consummation of the objects which the State of Pennsylvania held in view 
by his appointment, or for those entertained by the sisterhood of states and 
the Federal Government in their joint association. 

Commissioner Edwin H. A'are, a Senator of Pennsylvania during the pen- 
dency of the joint resolution authorizing the appointment of Commissioners 
by that State, had been patriotically instrumental in the enactment of that 
legislation. His interest in the Memorial and Centennial Celebration and the Pennsyl- 

restoration of the Niagara was awakened bv his first knowledge of the plans Y,^^^/, 

^ ' ^ . Faithful 

relating to all three and never ceased thereafter. Subsequently he contri- Board 

buted his personal influence to the legislation pending in Congress. He was 
very active in all the aiTairs of the Pennsylvania Commission, notwithstand- 
ing large interests which made heavy inroads on his time and energies. He 
was elected \^ice President of the Pennsylvania Commission upon the organ- 
ization of that body, and when the general organization of the participating 
States and the Federal Government was effected in IDIO his Pennsylvania 
colleagues honored him by his election as State Wee T^'resident of the Inter- 
state Board for the State of Pennsylvania. 

Commissioners Milton W. Shreve, T. C. Jones and George W. Neff proved 
their devotion to the cause, both in reference to the State of Pennsylvania 
and the affairs of the Inter-State Board, with singular fidelity. Commis- 
sioner Shreve discharged important duties as a member of some of the most 
important committees related to the Centennial Celebration and Memorial 
and extended his usefulness to legislation in many of the participating states. 
The Pennsylvania Commission invariably acted as a unit ; and, if comparisons 
were not invidious, it would be entirely just to record that no other State 
Commission was so uniformly represented in all details of the joint enter- 
prises in hand. 

The co-operation of the Pennsylvania Commission, individually and col- 
lectivelv, was indispensable to the construction of the Memorial, and by its 
historv in connection therewith it noblv vindicated the l)est traditions of the 
State. 

59 



Michigan 



Appoint- 
ment of 
Commis- 
sioners 



THE State of Michigan signified her willingness to co-operate with 
Ohio and Pennsylvania in the objects of their Commissioners by 
legislation in the form of a bill, introduced by Senator Edwin G. Fox, 
of the Twenty-first District, which passed the Senate Alay 10th, and the 
House ]\Iay 19th, 1909. The bill was substantially identical with the joint 
resolution which had passed the Legislature of Pennsylvania only a month 
previously. 

This legislation was the result of a visit to Lansing, on April 24th-30th, of 
President Reinhart, of the Ohio Commission, Director of Publicity R. J. 
Diegle and the author of the present History. We found Governor Fred M. 
Warner entirely responsive to the objects of our mission, and it was due to 
his friendly interest in the cause that a hearing was given us on the evening 
of April 20th, attended by numerous Senators and Representatives and 
happily presided over by the Governor. 

As in the case of Pennsylvania, the legislation first enacted made no men- 
tion of a memorial, but the executive and legislative authorities of Michigan 
were made to understand that a permanent memorial was contemplated, if 
necessary aid should be forthcoming from the several States and the Federal 
Government ; and this consideration weighed heavilv in determining: their 
favorable attitude. 

Pursuant to the authority vested in him. Governor Warner appointed as 
Commissioners for the State of ^Michigan, Charles Moore, of Detroit ; Seward 
L. Merriam, of Detroit ; Roy S. Barnhart, of Grand Rapids ; Albert L. 
Stephens, of Detroit, and E. K. Warren, of Three Oaks. Of these Com- 
missioner Moore attended the first meeting of any inter-state body con- 
cerned in the enterprise, held at Toledo, December 3rd, 1909, and he and 
Commissioner Barnhart represented the State of Michigan at the first meet- 
ing of the Inter-State Board, held at Put-in-Bay for the purpose of efifecting 
an organization, September 10th, 191(». Their colleagues on the original 
Commission were never active in the afifairs of the Inter-State Board. 

The connection of Commissioner Moore with the Memorial enterprise 
was destined to be not only that of a pioneer in the movement, but to have a 
determining influence upon the character of the Memorial itself. Resigning 
from the Michigan Commission on account of other demands upon his time, 
and at a period when the Memorial project was in the most indefinite form, 
he was some years later appointed by President Taft a member of the 
National Fine Arts Commission and as such sat as one of the distinguished 
judges in the great architectural competition at Washington which resulted 
in the selection of the design of the Memorial. 



60 



Commissioner Moore was succeeded by Commissioner George W. Parker, 
of Detroit, who was thereupon elected President of the ^lichigan Commis- commis- 
sion and at once devoted himself with unsurpassed zeal to the objects of the sioner 
Inter-State Board. Commissioner Parker's untimely death, November 11th, 
1915, in the flower of a remarkably vigorous young manhood, Avas felt as a 
keen personal loss by all his colleagues, who had learned to appreciate his 
sterling worth and who held him chiefly responsible for the successful par- 
ticipation of his State in the Memorial enterprise. He had necessarily taken 
upon himself almost all the responsibilities of the Michigan Commission. 
His services in behalf of legislation by that State were essential to the cause, 
and his connection with various important committees of the Inter-State 
Board, appointed to promote the plans for the Centennial Celebration, con- 
tributed very largely to the success of that memorable series of events. In 
testimony of their sense of bereavement occasioned by his death all of the 
Federal and State Commissioners signed a memorial addressed to the Gover- 
nor of Michigan expressing their high value of his services ; and copies of 
this document were presented to his widow and immediate kindred. 

The Michigan Commission underwent various changes. A notable ap- 
pointment was that of Commissioner Arthur P. Loomis, of Lansing, who as 
Secretary to Governor Warner during the period of the first legislation in 
that State, rendered valuable aid to its enactment. Commissioner John C. 
Lodge, of Detroit, was also a later appointee, these gentlemen succeeding 
Commissioners Seward L. ]\lerriam and Albert L. Stephens, resigned. 

Michigan's generous appropriation of $50,000 for a Memorial and Cen- 
tennial Celebration was at a later period very largely due to the sympathetic Appro- 
interest of Governor Woodbridge N. Ferris, and the personal activity of PJ^iation 
President Parker, of the Michigan Commission, and Commissioner :\Iac- 
kenzie R. Todd, of Kentucky, representing the Inter-State Board at the State 
Capital. A notable public hearing was held at a joint session of the Michigan 
Legislature during the progress of this legislation, addressed by United 
States Commissioners Miles and Keifer, Treasurer-General Sisson, Auditor- 
General Cutler and Commissioner Whitehead, of Wisconsin. The press of 
the State as a rule responded favorably to the suggestion of Michigan's 
participation, and the patriotic impulses of the people's representatives were 
manifested in the result. Michigan devoted $25,000 exclusively to the con- 
struction of the Memorial, and her officers of State and her naval militia 
participated prominently in the Centennial Celebration at Put-in-Bay. 

As the third State to enter the sisterhood of Commonwealths, whose rep- 
resentatives, with the Federal Commissioners, composed the Inter-State 
Board, Michigan fittingly acc^uitted herself of her patriotic responsibilities, 
peculiarly historic in her case on account of her intimate relationship with 
the Battle of Lake Erie and the Northwestern campaign of General Harrison 
in the War of 1S12. 

61 



Illinois 



Commission 



THE legislative activities of the Ohio Commissioners continued wirh a 
visit of their committee to Springfield, III, in April, 1900, resulting 
in the adoption of a joint resolution by the Legislature of that State, 
providing for the appointment of five Commissioners, substantially the same 
as that which had been adopted in Pennsylvania. Shortly after, Governor 
Original Charles S. Deneen appointed as such Commissioners General Philip C. Haves, 

of Joliet; William Porter Adams, of Chicago; Willis J. Wells, of Chicago; 
Chesley R. Perry, of Chicago, and W. H. Mcintosh, of Rockford. This 
Commission became at once active in the cause. Commissioner Perry at- 
tended the meeting of Commissioners representing Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
]\Iichigan and Illinois, held at Toledo in December, 1909, when the first action 
was taken looking to a concert of States, and Commissioners Hayes, Adams 
and Perry were present at Put-in-Bay, at the organization of the Inter-State 
Board, in September. 1910, and took a helpful part in the deliberations of that 
meeting. 

The death of General Hayes, in July, 1910, though perhaps not to have 
l-een unexpected on acount of his venerable age, was felt as a personal loss 
Ijy his colleagues of Illinois and the Inter-State Board. His devotion to the 
Ivlemorial enter])rise and his constancv in efforts to promote it were indeed 
remarkable in one of his years. As he said himself, he went from his home 
in Joliet to Springfield on one occasion, to appear before a committee in be- 
half of the Memorial and Centennial Celebration, to "celebrate his seventv- 
eighth birthday." During a service of five years he never relaxed the per- 
formance of faithfid duty in association with his colleagues of Illinois and in 
behalf of the general organization. 

The appointment of Captain Perry represented the Governor's recognition 
of the Illinois veterans of the Spanish-American War, as that of General 
Hayes represented those of the Civil War. With characteristic energy Com- 
missioner Perry cheerfully rendered every service that could have been re- 
quired of him for the objects in view. He was exceedingly active in promot- 
ing public sentiniL-nt in Illinois favorable to the Memorial enterprise, served 
on important committees dealing with the Centennial Celebration and ex- 
tended his helpfulness to the legislation pending in Congress. 

Plans for an appropriation in Illinois were not set on foot until 1911, and 
at the legislative session of that year a joint hearing on a bill appropriating 
$80,000 was held in the Hall of the House of Representatives and addressed 
by various Illinois Commissioners and the Secretary of the Ohio Commission. 

62 



Tliis bill subsequently passed tbe Senate, but failed to come to a vote in the 
House, and further legislation was necessarily deferred for a long period. 
Meanwhile the Illinois Commissioners obtained the passage of a joint reso- 
lution enlarging their Commission to eleven members, and Governor Edward 

F. Dunne appointed as the additional Commissioners William H. Thompson, Reorgani- 

... ^ zation 

of Chicago, subsequently Mayor ot that city; James Pugh, of Chicago; 

Richard S. Folsom, of Chicago : Xelson W. Lampert, of Chicago ; .\dam 

Weckler, of Chicago, and H. S. Bekemeyer, of Springfield. The Commission 

was reorganized. Commissioner Thompson being elected President and 

Commissioner Folsom Secretary. 

The association of Commissioners Thompson, Folsom and Pugh with their 
colleagues of the original Commission resulted in new impetus being given 
to affairs in Illinois. At the legislative session following, the state appro- Appro- 
priated $50, (too for th.e Memorial and Centennial Celebration, of which the P"^^^^" 
Illinois Commission promptly set aside $'^5, 000 exclusively for the construc- 
li("-n of the ^Memorial and $."),000 for the Centennial Celebration at Put-in- 
llay. President Thompson was elected a member of the Executive Com- 
mittee of the Inter-State Board, and Commissioner Perry member of the 
Committee on the Centennial Celebration. Commissioner Folsom was untir- 
ing in obtaining the financial co-operation oi his State and as Secretary of 
the Commission eft'ectively represented it at the meetings of the Inter-State 
Board and various committees. General Hayes continued as State Aice 
President for Illinois until his death. 

The Illinois Commissioners were responsible for a most successful State 
celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie, the central 
figure of which was the restored Niagara on her voyage around the Lakes. 
The reception accorded the old flag-shi]) in Chicago was perhaps the most 
remarkable of that memorable cruise, and she was visited by hundreds of 
thousands of Illinois people. 

The success of early legislation in Illintjis was largely due to the activity, 
in behalf of the appointment of Commissioners, of Senator John C. Mac- 
kenzie and Speaker Shurtlefif and Speaker Pro Tem Chiperfield, of the House 
of Representatives. The favorable attitude of Governor Dunne had a deter- 
mining influence uipon the appropriation made bv the State. 

Representatives of Illinois in Congress were essentiallv instrumental in 
obtaining Federal legislation. Senators and Representatives were uniformly 
favorable to the construction of the ^Memorial, foremost among them being- 
Representative William A. Rodenberg, Chairman of the House Committee 
on Industrial .\rts and Expositions, which favorably reported the Federal Washington 
appropriation bill, and Speaker Joseph G. Cannon, in whose hands the fate 
of the measure at all times reposed. 

In the community of interests formed by the Federal government and 
the participating States, Illinois, throughout the history of the Memorial 
project, performed a service most important, if not essential, to its success. 

"63 



Wisconsin 



L 



EGISLATIOX for the appointment of Commissioners by the State of 
Wisconsin conchided the legislative program of 1909. On May 5th 
of that year a meeting of Wisconsin Senators and Representatives at 
Madison was held for the purpose of hearing the subject presented by the 
visiting Ohioans, and on the following day a joint resolution providing for the 
appointment of Commissioners, introduced by Senator A. W. Sanborn, in 
substantially the same language employed in the resolutions adopted by the 
Original other states, passed both branches of the Legislature. Under the authority 

Commission [j-n^is conferred upon him, Governor Davidson appointed as the original Com- 
mission Lieutenant General Arthur MaCxArthur, L". S. A. Ret., of Milwaukee; 
John 'SI. Whitehead, of Janesville ; George A. Scott, of Prairie Farm; Ole 
A. Buslett, of Northland, and A. W. Sanborn, of Ashland. 

This was "a consummation devoutly to be wished." Wisconsin, more re- 
mote from the scene of the Battle of Lake Erie and the site of the proposed 
Memorial than any of the States previously approached, contained a cos- 
mopolitan population whose interest, if aroused in the Memorial and Cen- 
tennial Celebration, it was felt would insure the National character of these 
ioint objects and inevitably result in the participation therein of all the 
States proposed to take part in them. 

The appointment of Senator John M. Whitehead as one of the original 
A\'isconsin Commissioners gave to the Inter-State Board one of its most efifi- 
cient and faithful members for the realization of its future plans. Together 
with Senator Sanborn, Senator Whitehead was invaluable in obtaining the 
original legislation of his State, and later in influencing his colleagues in 
both branches of the Legislature to make a suitable appropriation. He was 
prominent in the affairs of the Inter-State Board from the beginning, rep- 
resenting Wisconsin at its organization in 1910 and taking a leading part in 
the deliberations. He was a member of the Sub-Committee of the Execu- 
tive Committee, having charge of most of the important business of the latter 
body during the Centennial period, a useful member of the Committee on 
Legislation, Promotion and Publicity and very active as a member of the 
Committee on the Put-in-Bay Celebration. In addition to these important 
duties his devotion to the work of his State Commission, which was at all 
limes thorough and far reaching, required him for a long period of years to 
give prodigallv of his time and energy in behalf of all the objects held in 
view by the Commissioners of the Federal Government, the several States 



Commis- 
sioner 
Whitehead 



64 



r.nd in particiihr the State of \\'isconsin. Commissioner Whitehead was 
-ekcted to deliver tb.c principal oration at the ceremonies in connection with 
the hiying of the cornerstone of the Memorial on J^ily 4th, 1913, and ac- 
qnitted himself of this honor in an address exceedingly noteworthy for 
historic research and of permanent value as a contribution to the literature 
of the War of 1812. During all his long service for his State, and as a 
UK^mjer of the Inter-State Board, there was no labor which he was not found 
vvilling to gratuitously perform and none which he undertook without con- 
firming the wisdom of his ap]iointment h\ the success of the task. 

Lieutenant (jcneral ?\lacArthur. who man.ifested the greatest interest in 
the early plans for the ^Memorial and Centennial Celebration, died shortly 
after his election as President of the Wisconsin Commission and was suc- 
ceeded, upon the reorganization of that body, by Rear Admiral F. M. ization"' 
Symonds, U. S. X. Ret., of Galesville. The reorganization of the Commis- 
sion was authorized by legislation providing for its increase to seven mem- 
bers ; and the new Commissioners appointed by Governor Francis E. Ale- 
Govern, in addition to Rear Admiral Symonds, were C. B. Perry, of 
Wauwatosa ; S. W. Randolph, of Manitowoc; Louis Bohmrich, of IMilwau- 
kee and John Al. [Jaer, of Appleton. Captain Baer resigned after a brief 
service, and Sol. P. Huntin. ton, of Green liay, was appointed to succeed him. 

President Symonds entered with enthusiasm upon the work of the Inter- 
State Board, beginning with his attendance at the annual meeting held at 
I'ut-in-Bay September Sth and !»th, when he was elected State Vice Pres- 
ident for Wisconsin and sulxsequentl}- re-elected each succeeding vear. sioner 
Afeanwhile in reference to the affairs of his own Commission he continued Symonds 
a painstaking and energetic executive and was largely responsible for the 
many activities of the Wisconsin Commission, which within the State were 
the most far-reaching of those of any of the States concerned in the Cen- 
tennial Celeliration and the erection of the Memorial, except Pennsylvania, 
as related to the restoration of the Niagara. 

The Wisconsin Commissioners were as a whole faithful to the objects of 
their appointment and industrious and harmonious in carrying them to a 
-•successful conclusion. They were particularly fortunate in the selection of 
their Secretary, Joseph C. McP.ell, of .Alihvaukee, whose zeal and ability for Secretary 
organization were equally vindicated in the successful work which he accom- McBell 
plished, not only as related to the affairs of his own State, but in connection 
with the series of Centennial Celebrations by the leading cities on the Great 
Lakes and in his official relation to various committees of the Liter-State 
Board incident thereto. He was most efficient in conducting the great educa- 
tional work of the Wisconsin Commission in connection with historical com- 
petitions in the public schools and other educational institutions. Li all 
matters of moment he was prolific of useful suggestions and at all times 
untiring in industry. The great success of the Wisconsin Centennial Cele- 

65 



l)rations, \velc0minj2: the Niagara at A[ilwaukee and Green Bay, was in part 
due to his co-operation with the local authorities in both cities: and upon 
the occasion of the attendance of the Wisconsin Commission upon the cele- 
bration of the lOOth anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie at Put-in-Bay 
and Cedar Point, accompanied on board the Steamship Alabama by -250 
official and civilian representatives of the State of Wisconsin, he supervised 
many of the details of that memorable voyage with characteristic energy and 
success. 

Wisconsin appropriated $50,000 for the Centennial Celebration and the 
construction of the Memorial, devoting $25,000 of this sum exclusivelv to 
the latter and contributing generously to the naval program in connection 
with the series of local celebrations during the Centeimial summer. When 
legislation was pending in Congress her representatives were faithful to the 
cause, and the co-operation of Ignited States Senator Robert F. LaFollette 
in this connection was essential to the passage of the appropriation act by 
the Senate. The entrance of the State into the Memorial enterprise marked 
the beginning of a truly National Memorial, for reasons alreadv stated: and 
in every detail of the execution of that work the participation of Wisconsin 
proved a most important factor. 




66 



New York 



NEW YORK joined in the sisterhood of States projecting the Cen- 
tennial Celebration and Memorial in the latter part of Jannary. 1910, 
under conditions which at first foreboded as darkly for the enterprise 
as those which orioinally prevailed in Pennsylvania. Representing- the Ohio 
Commissioners, T called on Governor Charles E. Hughes at Albany on Jan- 
uary 22nd. L'pon arriving at the State Capital I had been told that the 
prospect of legislation such as was desired was extremely remote, on account Hughes 
of the factional differences existing in the Legislature and the imminence 
of the senatorial briber\' cases of that vear, the trial of which was to be 
begun by the Senate the first of the following week and promised to con- 
tinue perhaps for months. Governor Hughes confirmed this gloomy outlook. 
He expressed sympathy with the objects of the Ohio Commissioners, but 
said that the bribery cases appeared to be a fatal obstacle in the path of 
legislation for the appointment of Commissioners by the State of New York 
at that session. 

It was on Friday that the first interview with Governor Hughes was held. 
He asked if I had any literature on the subject, and I handed him a report 
of the Ohio Commissioners filed a month previously, which had been ap- 
proved by the Commissioners of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois at the 
first In^er-State mteting held at Toledo. The Governor promised to read the 
report and to advise me of his impressions of it and the situation through 
Senator Henry W. Hill, of Buffalo, Republican leader of the Senate, not 
later than Sunday. It was understood that the bribery cases would open on 
Monday. Sunday afternoon I called on Senator Hill, and he showed me a 
letter just received from Governor Hughes, expressing his approval of the 
plans suggested by the report, his desire that New York should join in the 
enterprise by the appointment of Commissioners, and making a personal 
request of Senator Hill that the bribery cases should not be entered upon 
until an opportunity was given to introduce and pass upon a joint resolu- 
tion such as had prevailed in Pennsylvania and other States. 

Governor Hughes had apparently digested the whole scheme over night. 
His prompt action saved the day, for on Monday Senator Hill introduced the 
resolution in the Senate, having succeeded in deferring the bribery hearing 
for this purpose on the personal representations of the Governor. 

Some opposition developed, from a misunderstanding of the object of 
the resolution, but it was quelled by an eloquent and characteristic speech 

67 



Partici- 
pation 
Authorized 



Commis- 
sioners 



Commis- 
sioner 
Herrick 



bv the late Senator Thomas F. Grady, of New ^'ork City, the Democratic 
leader. I had called on Senator Grady on Saturday, and his approval of 
the enterprise was as enthusiastic as it was useful, for it practically insured 
Democratic support of our measure. The concurrent resolution providing 
for the a])i)ointment of Commissioners went over one day, passing the 
Senate on January 2()th, and on the 27th it passed the Assembly, by un- 
animous vote in both branches. In regard to this progress the records of 
the Ohio Commission contain a report by the Secretary in the following 
laneuase: "For the success of our cause in Xew York State, we are 
greatly indebted to the active co-operation of Senator Henry W. Hill, of 
Buffalo, Senators Thomas F. Grady, of Xew York City, and James A. 
Emerson, of Warrensburgh, and Assemblymen Edwin A. Merritt, Jr., of 
Potsdam, Daniel D. Frisby, of Middleburg, James Oliver, of Xew York 
City, and Jesse S. Phillips, of Andover." There can be no doubt, how- 
ever, that the oarticipation of Xew York at this time was mainly due to 
the patriotism and unusually painstaking interest, considering all the cir- 
cumstances, of Governor Hughes. 

Under the authoritv thus conferred upon him Governor Hughes on July 
2nth appointed ?s the five original members of the Xew York Commission 
provided for by the resolution, Ogden P. Letchworth. of Buffalo, George 
D. Emerson, of Buffalo, John T. Mott, of Oswe-o, Clinton B. Herrick, ^i 
D., of Troy, and Henry Harmon Xoble, of Essex. With the exception of 
Commissioners Herrick and Emerson, none of the foregoing was ever active 
in the affairs of the Inter-State Board. ^Ir. Letchworth resigned from the 
Commission in February, 1911, Mr. ^lott in January, 1!)13, and ^Ir. Xoble 
in lune. 1!)1:'^. The vacancies thus created were filled by the appointment 
of William Simon, of Buffalo, William J. Conners, of Buft'alo, and William 
F. Rafferty, of Syracuse. Dr. Clinton B. Herrick died March 23, lOlo, an'l 
was succeeded by Charles H. Wiltsie, of Rochester. 

Commissioner Herrick was one of the most valued members of the 
Inter-State Board. His long invalidism and death excited the profoundest 
svmpathy and regret of his colleagues, while his unyielding devotion to 
the cause in the face of the most distressing personal circumstances made 
him the subject of their unbounded admiration. He was the sole representa- 
tive of Xew York at the organization of the Inter-State iSoard in September. 
l;)li), served on manv of its important committees and gave lavishly of 
lus time and waning physical resources to many of the objects which were 
lield in view. At a time when the participation of Xew York in the Cen- 
tennial Celebration and the erection of the Memorial was essential as indicat- 
ing a union of important States in those objects. Commissioner Herrick 
ablv and faithfully represented the interests of the greatest Commonwealth 
in the Union. 

The appointment of George D. Emerson, of Buffalo, gave to the Inter - 
State Board another personal effective aid to united action. Commissioner 



68 



Kmerson was chosen Secretary of the NewYork Commission and served in 
that capacity continuously until and after the completion of the Alemorial. 
He was a devoted historian in reference to all subjects pertaining to the 
War of 181ta, and as the author of the exhaustive report of the New York Commis- 
Commission filed with the Governor of that State in 1!)1(;, condensed in Eme^rson 
that volume not only the history of the participation of his own State in 
the Centennial Celebration and construction of the ^Memorial, but a fund 
of information relative to the series of celebrations, the progress of the 
-Memorial enterprise and much valuable historical material relating to the 
Battle of Lake Erie and its consequences. Commissioner Emerson's parti- 
cipation in the affairs of his own State Commission and of the Inter-State 
r.oard was always distinctly helpful. His detail work was also largelv 
responsible for the success of the great F.uft'alo celebration, to which the 
Xew York Commissioners devoted a very large portion of their funds. 

The Xew York Commission was reorganized in 191:1, when the State 
made an appropriation of $150,000 "to aid in the celebration of the one 
hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie, the erection of a 
]\Iemorial to Commodore Perry and his men, and other expenses in con.- 
nection with such celebration." The text of the act provided that the 
money appropriated should be devoted, not only "'to aid in the construction 
of a memorial at Put-in-Bay," but "to aid m the celebration, including anv 
entertainment or public function held within the State of Xew York durino- 
the said celebration in connection therewith." The act also provided that 
it should be lawful for the Xew York Commissioners to transfer from their 
State funds, to the Treasurer-General of the Liter-State Board, $5(»,i)ii(i of 
the total sum appropriated, exclusively for the construction of the JMemorial. 

The reorganization of the Commission was effected by the language of 

tlie act which provided for the appointment of six additional commissioners, J^eo^^gan- 

, . ... , , T ■ ization 

w-hom It was stipulated were to be the Lieutenant Governor of the State, 

ex-officio, and two State Senators and three members of the Assemblv. 

to be appointed respectively by the Temporary President of the Senate and 

the Speaker of the Assembly. 

Pursuant to this provision the following members were added to the 
Commission: Lieutenant Governor ^Martin H. Glynn, Senators John F. 
Malone and \\'illiam L. Ormrod, and Assemblymen Simon L. Adler, Edward 
D. Jackson and Jacob Schifferdecker. Lieutenant Governor Glynn, be- 
coming Governor of the State to succeed William Sulzer in October, 1913, 
thereby vacated his membership on the Commission, and was succeeded by 
Lieutenant Governor Robert F. Wagner, of Xew York City, whose term of 
office expired in December. 1914. when the vacancy was filled by the elec- 
tion of Lieutenant Governor Edward Schoeneck. 

Among the Commissioners thus serving Messrs. Adler and Ormrod be- 
came active in the aft'airs of the Inter-State Board and rendered valued 
service for their State. Commissioner Ormrod was elected State A'ice Presi- 



69 



dent of the Inter-State Board, for New York, and Commissioner Adler 
member of the Executive Committee. 

The New York Commissioners were responsible for a highly successful 
Buffalo celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Lake 
Erie, as one of the series of celebrations on the Great Lakes in wdiich the 
Niagara was the central figure of patriotic interest, and they devoted a con- 
siderable portion of their funds to the erection of an admirable statue of 
Commodore Perry at Buffalo. From their appropriation of $150,000 for 
all purposes, they contributed $30,000 to the erection of the jMemorial. 



iS!»^g^<^a 




Rhode Island 



UP(^X" various social occasions among- Commissioners of the Inter- 
State i'.oard it has been facetiously observed that Rhode Island was 
"the only State to enter the sisterhood of States for the construction 
of the Memorial without an invitation." The fact is that Commodore Perry's 
native State needed no invitation — at least no persuasion — to embark in that 
patriotic enterprise. The original legislation looking to the participation of 
Rhode Island was enacted without the personal solicitation of Commissioners 
representing the cause, and this can be said of no other State. The moment 
it was ascertained by the executive and legislative authorities of Rhode 
Island, that a movement was on foot to celebrate the one hundredth anniver- 
sary of Perry's Mctory, those authorities acted with enthusiasm and dis- 
patch. 

On February 7, 1910; the Secretary of the Ohio Commission addressed a 
letter to Governor Aram J. Pothier, setting forth the States which at that 
period had consented to join the project b>- the appointment of Commis- 
sioners and apologizing, in their behalf, for their inability to be personally 
represented in Rhode Island, on a mission of invitation, at that time — a fact 
due to the very limited organization then existing. Governor Pothier was 
asked to consider the matter of Rhode Island's participation, and he con- 
sidered l)y promptly acting. He had been provided with a copy of the joint 
resolution concerning the appointment of Commissioners, and, advising with 
Senator John P. Sanborn, his response took form, when, on February 14th, 
a similar resolution was introduced in the Senate by Senator Sanborn and 
passed both branches of the Legislature unanimously. Governor Pothier 
promptly appointed as the Commissioners for Rhode Island, John P. San- 
born, of Newport ; Louis W. Arnold, of Westerly ; Sumner ]\Iowrv, of Peace 
Dale : William C. Bliss, of Ea.st Providence, and Harry Cutler, of Providence. 
^ All of these Commissioners were present at the organization of the Inter- 
State Board at Put-in-Bay, Rhode Island being the only State having a com- 
plete representation on that occasion. Commissioner Cutler was elected 
Auditor-General of the Inter-State Board, Commissioner Sanborn member 
of the Executive Committee and Commissioner Mowry State Vice-President 
for Rhode Island, and each was annually re-elected. Commissioner Bliss 
resigned in April, 1!)12, and was succeeded by Harry E. Davis, of Woon- 
socket. The latter was subsequently appointed by his colleagues Rhode 
Island's member of the Committee on Centennial Celebration. 

The appointment of Commissioner Cutler gave to the Inter-State Board, 
upon his election as Auditor-General, an official of indomitable energy and 
unsurpassed devotion to the cause. During all the period preparatory to the 
Celebration and throughout the years of the Memorial's construction he was 
untiring and most efficient in promoting these joint objects. He was an 
active member of the Committee on Legislation, promotion and Publicitv, 



First 
Legislation 



Commis- 
sioner 
Cutler 



71 



Commis- 
sioner 
Sanborn 



Appro- 
priations 



and later Chairman of the Special Committee, consisting of the general of- 
iicers and Federal Commissioners, in charge of legislation. As Auditor- 
General he co-operated effectively with Treasurer-General Sisson in the 
latter's administration of his department. The unqualified success of the 
ceremonies attending the Centennial Celebration of September 10-11, 1913, 
at Put-in-Bay, was mainly due to his planning, oversight and execution of 
their many details as Chief Marshal commanding the military and naval 
forces and in charge of the participation of the civic organizations engaged 
therein. The First Rhode Island Light Infantry Regiment and Band, of 
which he was Colonel, was an essential factor in the memorable exercises of 
that occasion. Prior thereto and subsequently Auditor-General Cutler was 
one of the most active members of the Inter-State Board directly concerned 
in obtaining legislation by many States for the completion of the Memorial. 

Rhode Island honored Commissioner Sanborn by making him President 
of the State Commission, and the Inter-State Board by his appointment as 
Chairman of the Committee on the Put-in-Bay Celebration. As a member 
of the Executive Committee he performed valuable and unfailing service in 
all matters pertaining to the Celebration and construction of the ^Memorial. 
In his own State he was a powerful factor in favor of the legislation which 
obtained both the appointment of its Commissioners and subsequent gen- 
erous appropriations. A devoted student of the history of the War of 1S12, 
he was the editor and publisher of the pamphlet on "Oliver Hazard Perry 
and the Battle of Lake Erie," which the Inter-State Board widely circulated, 
purely for educational purposes, during the Centennial summer. 

All of the Rhode Island Commissioners rendered faithful service for the 
cause, responding to the demands made upon them from many quarters with 
invariable helpfulness. The Commissioners of no other State so uniformly 
attended the meetings of the Board in a body. Hardly a roll call ever found 
a member of the Rhode Island Commission absent. 

Rhode Island appropriated $25,000 for the Memorial and Celebration, and 
all of this sum was set aside by her Commissioners and paid over to the 
Treasurer-General of the Inter-State Board, exclusively for the construction 
of the Alemorial. Subsequently the State appropriated $ir),00() to provide 
for its participation in the Centennial Celebration, and, notwithstanding th.e 
distance to be traversed, no other State was so completely represented b>- the 
attendance of State ot^cials, legislators, members of the judiciary and clergy 
and military and naval militia organizations, at the centenary exercises in 
commemoration of the Battle of Lake Erie. 

Represented by President Sanborn, the Rhode Island Commissioners were 
essentially instrumental in obtaining the financial co-operation of the State 
of jMassachusetts in the construction of the Memorial. Massachusetts gave 
$15,000 to that purpose, but the appropriation act did not provide for the 
appointment of Commissioners. 




72 



Kentucky 



KENTUCKY joined in the JMenKsrial and Centennial celebration 
projects by act of her Legislatnre providing for the appointment 
of Commissioners, in the form of a joint resolution adopted in 
Fe])rnary, 1910, and her accession to the sisterhood of States eng'agvd 
therein was at the time hailed with enthusiasm l)y all interested ; first. 
because it completed the chain of Conunonwealths whose history was 
most intimately related to the events and the heroes of the ^^'ar of 
1812, and, second, because it was felt that the Kentucky Commissioners 
to be appointed would pro^•e powerful factors in behalf of further Na- 
tional and State legislation — an expectation subsequently realized to the 
salvation of the whcole enterprise. 

By appointment with Governor Augustus E. AA'illson. the committee Governor 
of the Ohio Commissioners which had begun legislative operations with Willson 
the State of Pennsyhania \isited Frankfort Ee])ruary 2-4rth-29th. We 
had reason to l)elieve that Governor Willson would look with fa\'or on 
the object of our mission, l)ut were entirely unprepared for his inter- 
rogatory, upon explaining it to him in detail, when he inquired, "Are 
you gentlemen aware that I am a member of the Ananias Fishinsr Club?" 

There was a good deal of talk about numerous "Ananias Clubs" in 
tliose days, and the qtiestion caused some perplexity as to whether the 
gubernatorial mind regarded our suggestions and recital of progress as 
fiction. 

^\'e were much relieved, therefore, and given gn.und for new hope, 
when the Governor advised up that the Ananias Fishing Club was an 
organization composed of Kentucky fishermen who annually made a 
pilgrimage to Middle Bass Island, Lake l">ie, now in the very shadow 
of the Memorial! So it was not necessary to dwell further on the beau- 
ties of the proposed site, in order to enlighten Governor Willson. 

Without further parley, and in full accord with traditional Kentucky 
hospitality, the Governor at once sent a special message to the Senate, 
requesting for us the privilege of the floor, and detailed his Secretarv. 
[Mackenzie R. Todd (See Appendix O), to escort us thither. We had 
submitted to Governor Willson and Secretary Todd the draft of a joint 
resolution providing for the appointment of Commissioners, framed in 
the language of the Pennsylvania resolution, except that it detailed 
later progress in other States and in Congress. W> addressed the Sen- 
ate, and at the conclusion of the hearing the resolution was introduced 
by Senator Thomas F. Comics, of Lexington, and passed without a dis- 
senting vote. 



Commis- 
sioners 
Authorized 



Commis- 
sioner 
Watterson 



On the following day, marked by equal courtesies to the visitors, a 
hearing was accorded by the House of Representati\es, and the reso- 
lution passed the lower branch with the same unanimity. 

In making our grateful farewells to Go\ern(ir W'illson, 1 ventured to 
suggest that the appointment of Henry \\'atterson as one of the Ken- 
tucky Commissioners would be of incalculal)le ad\antage to the enter- 
prise, because of Mr. Watterson's international reputation, his great 
influence in public affairs and the characteristic force which he was 
known to put into any undertaking which appealed to his sense of 
patriotism and duty. The (io\-ernor replied that the suggestion was not 
resented, but was unnecessary, because he had already determined to 
appoint ^\r. Watterson. 

The records of the Ohio Commission under date of July 7. 1910, in a 
report by the Secretary, contain the following comment relative to the 
mission to Kentucky: "In addition to the favorable attitude of Gov- 
ernor Willson, for the prompt action of the Kentucky Legislature your 
Commissioners were largely indebted to the courtesy and zeal of Hon. 
Mackenzie R. Todd, Secretary to the Ciovernor." 

Within a brief period Governor W'illson announced the appointment 
of the following Commissioners: Colonel Henry A\'atterson, Louis\-ille ; 
Colonel Andrew Cowan, Louis\ille ; judge Samuel M. Wilson, Lex- 
ington; Colonel R. W. Nelson, Newport, and Mackenzie R. Todd, 
Frankfort. 

Colonel Watterson's acceptance of this responsibility instantly realized 
the expectations entertained in regard to it. The most critical i)eriod 
of the Memorial enterprise had been reached, and his association with 
it soon indicated it as a national project in the eyes of the public and 
the official world. As he himself subsequently expressed his attitude, 
the great object in view became one "near his heart," and from the hrst 
opportunity he engaged with characteristic energy in the congenial Avork 
which he genercMisIy set himself tcj do for its success. He performed 
important service at the organization of the Inter-State Board in the fol- 
lowing September, when, upon the suggestion of his colleague from 
Kentucky, judge Samuel ]\I. Wilson, the office of First \'ice-President 
General was created with a \iew to his election thereto, and his accept- 
ance made him also a member of the Fxecutive Committee. In July, 
1912, he became a member of the Building Committee upon the organi- 
zation ()f that body. He was the most potent factor for National legis- 
lation, and to his personal influence at A\'ashington must l)e attributed, 
in largest measure, the a])]jropriatit)n by Congress of $250,000 for the 
Memorial. He attended, with great physical efllort due to temporary ill- 
health, the joint meeting of the Building Committee, Inter-State Board 
and executive Committee at Washington, when the award for the design 



of the ^Memorial was made under the findings of the National Fine Arts 
Commission. He was present and delivered an historic address at the 
laying of the corner-stone of the Memorial. Meanwhile, in counsel, in 
action and in enthusiastic personal encouragement of all the objects of 
the general organization pertaining to the Memorial and Centennial 
Celebration, he was at all times an inspiration to devotion and zeal on 
the part of others and an absolutely essential aid to progress. No serv- 
ice could have been greater than his in behalf of the cause, and none 
could ha\e been rendered in a loftier spirit of unselfish patriotism. 

The other appointees of Kentucky's Governor were most appropriately Distin- 
associated with Mr. A\'atterson. Colonel Cowan fittingly represented the S^i^^ed 

A"D"DOinLGGS 

highest American traditions of the past fifty years as a distinguished 
soldier and Union \'eteran, the National head of the latter organization ; 
his appointment, contrasted with that of Colonel AVatterson, represent- 
ing the Confederate \'eterans, linking the historical interests of the 
Blue Grass State and the Nation in a relationship as agreeable as it was 
significant. Judge AA^ilson entered upon the plans of the Inter-State 
Board with enthusiasm kindled by his intense interest in American his- 
tory, and Colonel Nelson gaAe equal co-operation to the cause as a rep- 
resentative Kentuckian at a time when it most needed the support of 
substantial and influential men. 

Commissioner Todd was destined to become one of the leading spirits commis- 
of the Inter-State organization. Elected Financial Secretary in Novem- sioner Todd 
l)er, lim, lie was attached to the general headcjuarters at Cleveland 
during a period of three years. His watchful oversight of legislation in 
Kentucky was mainly resi)onsible for the appropriation of $25,000 by 
that State for the Memorial and Centennial Celebration. He was Ken- 
tucky's representative on the Executive Committee of the Inter-State 
Board, served as a member of the Committee on Legislation, Promotion 
and Publicity and other important committees, and as Secretary to the 
Committee on the Put-in-Bay Celebration, extending from July 4th to 
September 11. i;il3. supervised with signal success the manifold details 
of that period, including the major Celebration of the Centenary of the 
Battle of Lake l'>ie. Commissioner Todd's useful service also covered 
a l)road legislati\-e field, for he was closely concerned with and most 
helpful in the i)lans of the Inter-State Board in numerous States, rela- 
ti\e to the appointment of Commissioners and appropriations. Untiring 
in industry and sagacious in counsel, his daily attention to the afl^airs 
of the Inter-State Board as one of its three officers responsible to the 
Federal and State Commissioners for the progress of all measures in 
respect to the Memorial and Centennial Celebration was a continual 
source of helpfulness and a safeguard of success. 

At the legislative session of 1912 Kentucky appropriated $25,000 for 

75 



Appro- 
priation 



Organ- 
ization 



the Memorial and Centennial Celebratiun, and at the im])()rtant meeting 
uf the Inter-State Board in September of that year, when the first 
steps were taken to provide definitely for the erection of the great Doric 
column, the Kentucky Commissioners dedicated all of this sum to that 
purpose. Thus Kentucky became, with Rhode Island, one of the two 
only States devoting their entire appropriations exclusi\ely to the con- 
struction of the Memorial. 

Commissioner Todd, as Secretary to the (iovernor of Kentucky, was 
at all times watchful over the success of the appropriation bill in that 
State. Committee hearings were held, attended also 1)y Commissioner 
A\'ilson, of Kentucky, and Secretary General Hun.tington representing 
the Inter-State Board ; and, notwithstanding on one occasion the visit- 
ing Commissioners discovered when too late that their arguments had 
been delivered before the wrong committee, they seemed to carry due 
weight with the legislators of both Senate and House. The total appro- 
priations of the State of Kentucky, for all purposes, were less than 
>f;400,000 that year; and the fact that one-sixteenth of that sum was de- 
voted to the Memorial and Centennial enterprises, when the geograph- 
ical location of the State deprived it of all material relationship with 
them, was suf^cient e\'idence of the unselfish i)atriotism of the Ken- 
tucky statesmen. 

The bill was introduced in the Senate by Senator Claude Thomas, of 
Bourbon County, and passed that body without a dissenting vote and 
without debate. In the House it was introduced by Representative 
Robert H. Scott, of Paducah, who delivered a masterly speech in advo- 
cating its passage. The vote in that body was eighty-two for the bill 
and twelve opposed. 

()ne mountaineer member, who had announced his opposition to the 
l:)ill, \-oted for it and was gratefully asked for an explanation of his 
former seeming hostility. 

"Hell!" he said; "after Scott's speech you fellows might as well ha\'e 
had a million! I would have voted for it myself!" 

The Kentucky Commissioners organized by the election of Commis- 
sioner AA^atterson, President; Commissioner Nelson, \'ice-President, and 
Commissioner Wilson, Secretary. The services of a Treasurer were 
never required, since the whole of the State appropriation was turned 
over to the Treasurer-General of the Inter-State Board. His Ken- 
tucky colleagues honored Commissioner Cowan by electing him State 
Vice President of the Inter-State Board, and Commissioner Todd by 
his election to represent the State on the Executive Committee. This 
organization continued without change to the final fulfillment of the 
objects for which it was created. 



76 



Legislation in Congress 

GO\'ERN(JR James M. Cox, of Ohio, responding to the toast, 
"Ohio and the Perry's Victory Centennial," at the centenary 
banquet given by the Inter-State at Cedar Point, September 10, 
1913, at which the guests of honor included distinguished representatives 
of the United States Government and the Dominion of Canada and the 
Governors of all the States participating in the erection of the Memorial, 
said that, while the Centennial and Memorial j)rojects had been intelli- Three 
gently and faithfully directed from their inception up to the time National Forces in 
legislation was seriously undertaken, they did not assume definite form Legislation 
and substance, nor promise the success since achieved, until the appear- 
ance in W^ashington, in December, 1!)1(», of Henrv Watterson. (See 
Appendix P). Governor Cox had been a member of Congress at that 
time, a firm friend of the Memorial enterprise, and knew whereof he 
spoke. If he had added that Mr. W'atterson's influence, fortified by the 
patience, tact and zeal of (ieneral J. Warren Keifer, Representati\e in 
Congress from the 7th Ohio District and author of the Memorial appro- 
priation bill, and by the in\aluable co-operation of Treasurer-General 
Sisson, of the Inter-State Board, had determined both the foundations 
and superstructure of success at the National Capital, he would have 
told the exact truth as to the three main factors in Federal legislation. 
Governor Cox's reference to Mr. W^atterson was the signal of an ovation 
in his honor, notwithstanding his absence, and it v/as obvious that the 
significance of the tribute was understood by all. 

The records of the Ohii) Commission of June 23. 1909, set forth the 
first efi:'orts to obtain Federal aid for the Memorial and Centennial enter- 
prises, as follows : 

On May 13-20 the President, Secretary and Director of Publicity 
visited Washington with a view to bringing important objects in connec- 
tion with the proposed celebration before the Ohio delegation in Con- 
gress. (Jn the call of General J. ^^'arren Keifer a meeting of the Ohio 
Representatives was held, Tuesday, May LSth. General Keifer presided. ^^^^^ 
The present status of the enterprise was explained to those in attendance, Washington 
and at the conclusion of the hearing a motion was ofifered by Representa- 
ti\e A\'. Aubrey Thomas, of the 19th District, instructing Representative 
Keifer to prepare and take charge of a bill, in behalf of the Ohio delega- 
tion, making a suitable appropriation for a Perry Memorial building, 
said bill to be introduced at the forthcoming session of Congress in 



December, 1909. The mution was unanimously adopted. The amount 
of the appropriation to be asked for was not definitely determined u])on, 
but the sentiment of those present seemed to favor a sum not less than 
$100,000. 

Early in December I was delegated by the Ohio Commissioners to con- 
sult with General Keifer at his home in Springfield in reference to the 
proposed bill, and we agreed upon a preamble setting forth the progress 
at that time achieved and enacting clauses providing for an appropriation 
of $250,000, for "the erection of a permanent National Memorial Monu- 
ment to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry," on Put-in-Bay Island, and 
"in aid of the Perry's Victory Centennial and Exposition, to be held dur- 
ing the year 1913." The bill also suggested that the monument should 
combine, "as far as practicable," the utilitarian objects proposed in John 
Eisenmann's design. The views of Commissioners as to the amount of 
the Federal appropriation had been expanded, so as to contemplate the 
larger sum of $250,000, by the first joint meeting of any Inter-State body 
interested in the Memorial, held at Toledo December 3, 1909. On Jan- 
uary 4, 1910, General Keifer introduced the bill, as House Bill No. 16363. 
and it was referred to the Committee on Industrial x\rts and Expositions, 
Representative ^^'ilIiam A. Rodenberg, of Illinois, Chairman. 

A committee hearing on the bill was accorded February 18, 1910, when 
arguments in its behalf were presented l)y General Keifer, the President 
and Secretary of the C)hio Commission, Representatives A\'illiam G. 
Sharp and Isaac R. Sherwood, of Ohio, and Arthur L. Bates, of Pennsyl ■ 
\ania. 

'^j^^-^^^^^^S No further measures were adopted to promote this legislation until 
of Dec. 10, . . ... 

1910 the next session of Congress, and meanwhile the organization of the 

Inter-State Board, effected in September, 1910, afforded the advocates 

of the bill a substantial background for its support. On December 10, 

1910, a second hearing was granted by the Committee on Industrial Arts 

and Expositions, notable for the representation of Commissioners and 

others present in fa\'()r of the bill, their con\incing arguments, the faAor- 

able attitude of the committee and the amendments to the original l)ill 

thereupon agreed to. 

The Inter-State Board was represented l)y President-! jeneral W'orth- 
ington. First Vice President-General W'atterson, Secretary-General 
Huntington, United States Commissioner Keifer, author of the bill, and 
Commissioners Shreve, of Pennsylvania, Parker, of Michigan, Hayes, of 
Illinois, Sanborn, of Rhode Island, Todd, of Kentucky, Sanborn, of Wis- 
consin, Herrick, of New York, and Hayes, of Ohio. Governor Judson 
Harmon, of Ohio, was also present by invitation, together with Rei)re- 
sentative T. T. Ansberry, of Ohio, who later proved an in\aluable friend 
of the Memorial enterprise, and \arious other members of Congress not 

78 




COMMISSIONERS AND OTHKKS ATTK-NDINU CO-NOKKSSluXAL HEAKIMr, DEC. lU. 1910 
First row, left to right: First Vice President-General Watterson ; Presidenl-Ueneral "VVortli- 
ington; Governor Harmon, of Ohio; Secretary-General Huntington. Second row: Commissioner 
Shreve (Pa.): Commissioner Sanborn (R. I.). Third row: Congressman Howland (O.) : Com- 
missioner Parker (ilich.) ; Congressman Ansberry (0.); Congressman Cassidy (0.). 



members of the Committee. The members of the Committee in attend- 
ance were Chairman Rodenberg- and Representatives Langley. Steenerson, 
Woods. Poindexter, Heflin, CoUier, Cnllop and Covington. 

President-General Worthington stated the object of the hearing in 
general terms and Secretary-General Hnntington in detail, the latter 
vielding to First A'ice President Watterson. who delivered the principal 
argument in favor of the bill. It was a deeply attentive and personally 



79 



Mr. Watter- 
son Before 
the 
Committee 



favorable audience which turned iu Mr. \\ atterson as he arose to speak, 
and his first sentences evoked the spontaneous applause of patriotic en- 
thusiasm. 

■"Mr. Chairman and gentlemen/" he began, "T was born here in Washing- 
ton and early enough distinctly to recall when it was a positiAC merit to 
have 'fit agin the British,' and a positixe reproach to have had a l^ory 
ancestor. I remember very well when the soldiers and the heroes of the 
War of 1812, and now and then a soldier of the Revolution, appeared 
upon these streets. I grew up in an atmosphere made by the Re\olu- 
tionary War and the War of 1812. We could in fancy see the old Con- 
tinentals "in their ragged regimentals," and through imaginary powder 
clouds hear imaginary drums and fifes. I knew countless persons who had 
fought in the battles of the Thames and Tippecanoe, some who had escaped 
from the massacre of the River Raisin, an a few who fought with Perry in 
the famous battle on Lake Erie. 

"I was one of the many thousands of Southern men who loved the 
Union and lamented the war of sections, but who, when the debate was 
ended and war had come to pass, "shinnied" on their own side of the line. 
Thus it was that in lS(i.-), when all that I feared in ISlil had come to pass, 
it did not require two minutes or three words to reconstruct me. From that 
''ay to this I have had but one aspiration, whi:h has been the political rehabili- 
tation and moral emancipation of the South, and the restoration of the 
people and the sections to the old-time, beloved Union of the States. 

"And so, when I was advised by the (iovernor of Kentucky that he 
wanted to make me one of a Commission to join in the celebration of the 
one hundredth anniversary of Perry's X'ictory, I was more than willing. 
I knew nothing about the practical, concrete purpose in view, but u])on 
the sentiment, breeding- back to the famous message, 'We have met the 
enemy and they are ours,' which had been ringing in my mind and heart 
since I can remember, and the stories that came from New Orleans of 
Old Hickory and the, Tennessee rifiemen who won for us that wonderful 
victory, I cheerfully undertook to become a part of the Commission and 
went last September to Put-in-Bay to join the other gentlemen, similarly 
appointed, in consideration of the general project." 

Mr. Watterson paid a brilliant tribute to the heroism and pictured the 
great consequences of the Battle of Lake Erie, and closed with a per- 
suasive plea for a favorable report on the pending bill. All of the ad- 
dresses before the Committee were extemporaneous, but, fortunately for 
the records of the Memorial history, a stenographic report of the pro- 
ceedmgs preserved them for posterity. 

General Philip C. Hayes, President of the Illinois Commission, Gov- 
ernor Harmon and Senator John P. Sanborn, President of the Rhode 
Island Commission, continued the arguments of the hearing, which 



SO 



closed with an informal discussion of the details of the l>ill. On Decem- 
ber 21 the Committee reported the bill favorably, with amendments 
relating to the appointment of the Federal Commission, stipulating that Favorable 
one should represent the Army and one the Navy of the United States, 
and providing that "no part of the sum hereby appropriated shall be avail- 
able for the said Perry's Victory Centennial Celebration until the said 
United States Commissioners are satisfied that a sufihcient sum has beeri 
appropriated by the States participating therein, including the amount 
hereby appropriated, for the completion of the said Memorial." 

Mr. AVatterson remained in Washington until just ])rior to the Christ- 
mas holiday recess, and together we continued to do our utmost for the 
success of the bill. It was the third session of the 61st Congress, destined 
to expire by constitutional limitation March 4th, and there was no time 
to be lost if the cause were to be successful. It was, therefore, with much 
trepidation that I bade him farewell on his leaving the city, to embark 
for France, where he planned to spend the remainder of the winter. 
Meanwhile, however, Mr. Watterson had apparently enlisted the powers Qf success 
behind legislation in favor of the bill. President Taft regarded the sub- 
ject in a friendly light when he presented it to him. Nothing could have 
succeeded the cordiality of his rece]ition by Speaker Joseph G. Cannon 
and other representatives of the dominant party in both branches of 
Congress, though it was equalled by that accorded him from the minority, 
led in the House by Representative Champ Clark, of Missouri. A veteran 
member said to me that it seemed strange that the two men a])parent]y 
able to exercise the greatest personal influence over Congress, and whose 
visits to Washington were always attended by the greatest exhibitions 
of non-partisan attachment on the i)art of members, never held office : 
and when I asked him to \\'hom he referred, he replied, "Mark Twain 
cUid Henry AWitterson." 

Following the inactivity of the Christmas recess, I returned to Wash- 
ington and was not lc)ng in sorely missing Mr. Watterson's magneticall}' 
helpful presence. Va\ route I was fortunate to fall in with Congressman 
Sharp, of Ohio, in later years American Ambassador to France, whom 1 
knew as an old friend and whose interest in our legislation had been mani- g„,,tj^g^„ 
tested on many occasions. He warned me that bad feeling had arisen in Aid 
the House, growing out of the controversy over the Panama Canal Ex- 
position between the advocates of New Orleans and San Francisco anrl 
that ^\■e might find it "hard sledding," among the disappointed friends 
of the former, for legislation ])roposing any kind of exposition or cen- 
tennial celebration. Happily, just at this time Congressman Dupre, of 
New Orleans, was appointed by the Louisiana Historical Society a mem- 
ber of a committee to appear before the Legislature of that State the fol- 
lowing winter, t(^ solicit the co-operation of Louisiana in the Memorial 

81 



The Failure 
of Feb. 7 



"Uncle Joe' 
Throws a 
Bomb 



Critical 
Days 



enterprise, and this fact aroused his interest in the whole project, which 
he communicated to General Estopinal, also a Representative from New 
Orleans ; and they were not long in removing any danger to our legisla- 
tion which might have arisen from the friction over the Panama-Pacitic 
Exposition. 

At this juncture Treasurer-General Sisson came from Harrisburg, 
where he was presiding as President Pro Tempore over the Pennsylvania 
Senate, and entered upon the essential service which he rendered in 
l>ehalf of the bill, from that time on, by means of occasional but most 
helpful visits to Washington. The l)ill was on the calendar of the House 
for consideration February 7th, and our anticipations ran high. On that 
day the Speaker recognized General Keifer, to advocate its passage, but 
dur dismay VN^as unbounded when Representative Alacon. of Arkansas, 
raised the point of order of "no quorum," and, against the pleadings of 
our friends on the floor to withdraw it, the Speaker ruled that the point 
was well taken, and the bill failed. It was reported to me that Repre- 
sentative Macon acted under instructions, and the outlook appeared 
gloomy indeed. 

In this dilemma a meeting of the ( )hi(i delegation was called for the 
following Saturday, to see what was best to be done, and as the result 
, a majority of the delegation went in a body to see Speaker Cannon and 
learn whether he would set a time to recognize General Keifer. All 
concerned were entirely thoughtless of the fact that the November elec- 
tions, resulting in the election of a Democratic House, had been char- 
acterized by some desertions of Speaker Cannon, who had been an issue 
in the campaign, l)y some of his Republican colleagues, among whom 
several hailed from Ohio. It was agreed that Representative Kennedy, 
of Youngstown, a warm supporter of the Speaker, should be our spokes- 
man. 

As we entered the private office of the reputed "Czar" of the House, 
"Uncle loe" looked up from his desk in the center of the room. 

"Gentlemen," he said. "I am honored by this visit, l)Ut some of you 
fellows ought to come in here on your knees to me, instead of standmg 
up to ask favors !" 

It was an excessively warm day for the period of the year, Init the 
temperamental mercury fell to zero. kei)rescntative Kennedy delivered 
our message, but we received no assurance and left the room. 

I cabled ^\v. Watterson. in France, to appeal again to Speaker Cannon, 
and from all the participating States, and particularly Illinois, where 
Commissioner Perry did valiant service, the wires were kept hot with 
messages to meml^ers of Congress, the Speaker foremost among them, 
to open the way for the bill in the House. There could be no considera- 
tion of it under suspension of the rules until the last six days of the 



session, and this would l)e too late for it to pass the Senate. Treasurer-, 
General Sisson came twice to Washington, to induce his fellow-citizen., 
Representati\'e Dalzell, of Pennsyhania, chairman of the Committee on 
Rules, to bring in a special rule so as to obtain recognition of the bill, but 
in this we failed utterly. The reciprocity bill in the House, and the 
Lormier case in the Senate, accompanied by desperate filibustering in 
both branches, complicated the situation. Both branches had now begun 
to hold night sessions, and if General Keifer slept by night or took sus- 
tenance by day, the occasions were unknt)wn to all others, for he was 
ever "on the job," as vigilant as a ])icket in war time. 

In despair of the House, I enlisted the interest of Senator Charles 
Dick, of ( )hio, as to the possibility of introducing the bill in the Senate. 
He was sympathetic, and upon his mention of Senator Boise Penrose, oi senators 
Pennsyhania. as a likely friend of the measure under all the circum- Enlisted 
stances, I appealed again to Senator Sisson to come to Washington. He 
came, and at his solicitation Senator Penrose himself agreed to introduce 
the l)ill, but was in doubt as to what committee it should be referred. 

"Would there be any justification," he asked, "for its reference to the 
Committee on Naval Afl^airs?" Senator Penrose happened to be a mem- 
ber of that committee. 

Most assuredly. A\'e projjosed to celebrate and memorialize a naval 
victory; why not refer the bill to the Committee on Naval Affairs? And 
so this program was agreed upon. 

Senator Dick t(jok me to Senator Perkins, of California, chairman of 
that committee, with the object of haxing him first sign a favorable re- 
port and rather Aaguely explained the object of our call as pertaining to 
the Perry Centennial Celebration. Again the Panama-Pacific Exposi- 
tion Irjomed large, ])ut this time auspiciously; for a Senator from Cali- 
fornia could hardly at that time look disapprovingly upon any kind of 
an exposition. 

"But, Senator," protested Senator Perkins, much to our surprise, "we 
have already attended to that!" 

"Attended to what?" queried Senator Dick. 

"AMiy," replied the Chairman, "didn't we make a Rear Admiral of 
Captain Peary for discovering the Xorth Pole?" 

Explanations were in order, and not long in the making. Senator 
Perkins inquired whether the draft of a favorable repo"t on Senator 
Penrose's bill had l)een prepared. \\'e were obliged to reply in the nega- Comnnttee 
tive, but at the Chairman's suggestion we then and there sat down and ^"^^"^^^ 
wrote one. Senator Perkins signed it. Senator Dick took it in charge 
and within forty-eight hours had attached to it the names of all the 
members of the Committee on Naval Afifairs, with one exception. The 

83 



bill was favorably reported t<i the Senate February 28(1. but on account 
of the condition of business unanimous consent was reciuired for its 
consideration. 

A serious problem also seemed to be presented by the possible attitiide 
of Senator La Follette, of Wisconsin, toward the bill, for it was well 
known that not much harmony existed between the Penrose and La 
Follette followers in the Senate, and a single objection would have killed 
the bill. L^pon suggestion from Washington, Commissioner Sanborn, of 
Wisconsin, a personal friend of the Senator, urged him to support the 
bill, and when Senator Sisson and I called upon him in regard to the 
matter we were delighted at his assurance that he would not only vote 
for the appropriation but that he would be "responsible for his group." 

The atmosphere was now somewhat cleared, but every moment was 
precious. Treasurer-General Sisson returned to Harrisburg, while 1 
Mr. Sisson's awaited developments. On the night of Saturday. February 25th, worn 
Sly Message ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ watching day and night sessions of both houses, I retired after 
midnight and slept until late Sunday morning. About 10 o'clock the tele- 
phone in my room awakened me. I answered and recognized Senator 
Sisson's voice, talking from Harrisburg. 
"Is there anything new?" he asked. 
"No," I replied, "nothing since you left here." 
"Oh, yes, there is," he said, insinuatingly. 
"What is it?" I demanded. 

"The bill ])assed the Senate last night," he re})lie(l, and brutall}' hung 
up the receiver. I'he joke was on me. 

Indeed, the bill had passed in the early morning hours, and Senator 
Penrose had at once telegraphed the news to Treasurer-General Sisson, 
whom I could imagine chuckling at his knowledge and my ignorance 
of wdiat had happened. 

The following Monday began the last five days in wdiich we cotild gel- 
consideration in the House. The bill was now destined to reach the 
Speaker's table, but it w^as entirely o})tional with him as to whether it 
w^ould come before the House. General Keifer, patient as Job and watch- 
ful as a leopard, remained at his post day and night, lest the opportunity 
for recognition should be lost. 

At this juncture I felt that fortune favored us when my friend, former 
Mr Lentz Congressman John J. Lentz, of Ohio, appeared uj^m the scene. He 
knew nothing, or very little, of the ^lemorial and Centennial Celebra- 
tion projects, but when explained to him they appealed movingly to his 
enthusiastic nature. Representative Champ Clark, of Missouri, who had 
been nominated for speaker of the next House by the Democratic caucus 
and who had promised Mr. \\'atterson, in my hearing, to support the bill 
and speak in its behalf, if necessary, was on terms of personal intimacy, 

84 



and allied pdliticall}'. with Mr. Lentz, and I begged the latter to see him 
in our ])ehalt. with the request that he should intercede |)ersonally with 
Speaker Cannon for recognition. 

On ^Monday we went to Air. Clark, and he agreed to see the Speaker. 
On Tuesday Mr. Lentz saw him again, and he said that he had not had 
the time. On Thursday morning, with only one more day, Marcli '■\. re- 
maining in which to pass the bill in the House, we called him from the 
floor. He apologized for having necessarily overlooked the matter and 
])romised to go at once to the Speaker's desk with a personal plea. 

I went up into the gallery, and Mr. Lentz went on the floor, which as The Two 
an ex-member he had the right to do, to receive the report of wdiatever Speakers 
might happen and communicate it to me. From my point of vantage I 
could see the Speaker of the next House ascend the rostrum to the 
Speaker of the present House and interrupt the proceedings long enough 
for an earnest, though brief, conversation. Subsequently the former told 
us what occurred. 

"Mr. Speaker," Representative Clark said, "you ha\e l)een Speaker of 
this House for a long time, but before long I am going to have your job, 
and some of these days you may be coming to me for a favor, as I now 
come to you." 

Speaker Cannon appreciated the humor of the situation. 

"What is it. Champ?" he asked. 

"Give these Perry's \'ictory fellows a chance," replied Mr. Clark. 

"Champ," said "L'ncle Joe," as he turned to the House, "tell 'em to be 
ready at four o'clock!" 

Mr. Clark gave the news to Mr. Lentz. who imparted it to me in the 
lobby. General Keifer was quickly advised, and the telephones were put 
in operation to summon our friends. I returned to the gallery and could 
see them filing in and knew there would be no lack of a quorum this time. 

At 4 o'clock, faithful to his promise — faithful, as I had always believed 
he W'Ould be, to his assurances to Henry W^atterson — Speaker Cannon 
recognized General Keifer. 

"The gentleman from Ohio." he said. * "moves to suspend the rules, 
take from the Speaker's table Senate Bill lOl!)"? and pass the same." The 
l)ill was read. "Ls a second demanded?" 

Representati\e StafTord, of A\'isconsin, demanded a second, but upon An 
being interrogated said that it was not because he w^as opposed to the ^"t^'^^^sting 
bill. "I wish to obtain an explanation, so as to determine wdiether I am 
opposed or not," he said. 

\'arious meml^ers urged that the gentleman had no right to control 
the time unless he intended to oppose the bill. General Keifer offered 
to vield. 



*See Congressional Record, 3rd Session. 61st Congress, pp. 4069-4070. 

85 



"Don't you know," cried Representative ^fann. of Illinois, addressin.f^ 
Representati\e Stafford, "that this l)ill is so well greased that it has to 



•'And the 
Bill is 
Passed" 



Loyal 
Friends 



pass 



?" 



"I think that is true," said (ieneral Keifer. (juietly. Cries of "Vote! 
vote!" came from all parts of the House. 

"The explanation of the gentleman is adequate, Air. Speaker," said 
RepresentatiA-e Stafford, amidst laughter. 

Representative Macon, of Arkansas, interposed to observe that, if 
Congress was asked to appropriate ?}^'250,000, "some reason ought to be 
gi\-en for it." 

Again the cries of "Vote, vote!" 

"The question is on the motion of the gentleman from r)hio," said the 
the Speaker, responding to the situation; "all those in fa^■()r" — the his- 
toric gavel of "Uncle Joe" began to descrilie its famous circles in the air 
— -"all those in favor of the motion will say, 'Aye!' " 

There was a thunderous call of "ayes." The gavel circled again, as 
the Speaker called for the negative vote, and amidst its feeble echo came 
dowri with a bang on the desk. "And the bill is passed!" 

Breathless, I ran down from the gallery to the main door of the House 
and seized General Keifer's hand as he emerged into the lobby. He was 
wringing with persi)iration and delighted beyond measure, for seldon^. 
indeed had there been a legislative \ig\\ like his. Members and friends 
gathered 'round in jollification, and we liesieged the neighboring tele- 
graph office with messages to anxious Commissioners. 

The fight had been nobly won at the last moment, l)ut not then nor 
ever after could we forget the debt which the cause owed to the loyal, 
earnest souls in l)oth ])ranches of Congress who had won it for us — men 
like Sherwood, Cox, Cole, Longworth, Sharp, Ansberry, Anders(jn, Ash- 
brook, Hollingsworth, I'aylor, Howland, Thomas and Kennedy, of Ohio; 
Olmsted, Bingham and Burke of Pennsylvania; Sisson, of Mississippi; 
Clark, of Missouri ; Hobson, of Alabama ; Dupre and Estopinal. of Louis- 
iana ; Sheffield, of Rhode Island; Rodenberg, Lowden and Madden, of 
Illinois; James, Stanley. Sherley and Langley. of Kentucky, and, last 
but not least, "L^ncle Joe" Cannon in the House; and, in the Senate, 
Dick, of Ohio; Penrose, of Pennsylvania; La Follette, of Wisconsin; 
Perkins, of California; Aldrich, of Rhode Island, and those who, re- 
sponding to the leadership of the two first named, made ])ossible tlvt 
Perry's Victory Memorial. 

The bill became a law by the signature of President Taft the day after 
it passed the House, and on the following day, March 4th, the 61st Con- 
gress adjourned sine die. 



86 




STEEL BOX COXTAIXING DOCUMENTS, PLACED IX THE CORNER STOXE 

OF THE MEMORIAL 



The Centennial Celebration 



THE centenary of the Battle of Lake Erie was celebrated by authority 
of Xational and Siate legislation, under the direction of the Inter- 
State Board, during- the summer of 1913, the exercises opening- and 
closing- at Put-in-Bay, where they were conducted from July 4th to Sep- 
tember 11th, inclusive. This was the official National and Inter-State cele- 
Iiration. The Inter-State Board was concerned in the many memorable 
local celebrations, which occurred on the Great Lakes during the summer 
and terminated at Louisville, Kentucky, in October, onlv so far as U) give 
them the moral and practical aid of its organization and to direct the cruise 
of the Niagara. The "Put-in-Bay Celebration," so named in the records 
of the Inter-State lioard as being the only one under its auspices, began with 
the ceremonies attending the lading of the corner stone of the Memorial 
on the Fourth of July and closed with the observance of the actual centenary 
of the Battle on September lOth and the transfer of the remains of the 
American and British officers killed in the conflict, which for a hundred 
years had reposed in graves marked by a modest monument on the shore of 
Put-in-Bay harbor, to their last resting place in a crypt beneath the 
rotunda of the .Memorial, September 11th. 

Time wrought various changes in the personnel of the Inter-State Board, 
and the Committee on Inscriptions within the Memorial resolved, the 
action being subsequently approved by the whole Board, that the Federal 
and State Commissioners serving during the Centennial Celebration should be 
officially known as composing the National and Inter-State organization, 
and so recognized in the historical tablets placed within the ^Memorial, 
following the names of the Federal Government and the participating States. 

During- the period referred to this organization was as follows : 



Official 
Celebration 



Centennial 
Commis- 
sioners 



General Officers 

President-General. George H. W'orthington, Cleveland, Ohio ; First Mce- 
President-General, Henry Watterson, Louisville, Ky. : Secretarv-General. 
Webster P. Huntington, Columbus, Ohio ; Treasurer-General, A. E. Sisson, 
Erie, Pa. ; Auditor-General, Colonel Harry Cutler, Providence, R. T. ; Finan- 
cial Secretary, ^lackenzie R. Todd, Frankfort, K^•. 



Commissioners 

For the United States Government: Eieutenant-General Nelson A. Miles. 
U. S. A.. Ret., Rear-Admiral Charles H. Davis, U. S. X., Ret.. Washington. 
D. C. ; r^Iajor-General J. \\'arren Keifer, Springfield. Ohio. 

Ohio : John H. Clarke, George H. Worthington, Cleveland ; S. M. Johann- 
?en, Put-in-Bay; Eli Winkler, Nicholas Longworth, Cincinnati: Horace Hol- 
brook, W^arren ; ^^'illiam C. !Mooney, Woodsfield ; Horace L. Chapman, Co- 
lumbus; George \\'. Dun, Toledo. (Webster P. Huntington, Secretary. 
Cleveland. ) 

Pennsylvania : A. E. Sisson, Milton W. Shreve, Erie ; Edwin H. A'are, 
Philadelphia: T. C. J<'nes, ]\lcKeesport : George ^^^ Xeff. ^1. D.. Mason- 
town. 

]\lichigan : George W. Parker, John C. Lodge, Detroit ; Arthur P. Loomis, 
Lansing: Roy S. Bandiart, Grand Rapids: E. K. Warren, Three Oaks. 

Illinois : William H. Thompson, James Pugh, Richard S. Folsom, Nelson 
W. Lam])ert, Adam Weckler, Chesley R. Perry. William Porter Adams. 
Willis J. W>lls, Chicago; General Philip C. Hayes. Joliet : W. H. McLitosh. 
Rockford ; H. S. Bekemeyer. Springfield. 

Wisconsin : Rear-Admiral Frederick 'SI. Symonds, V. S. N., Ret., Gales- 
ville ; John M. \\'hitehead, Janesville; A. W. Sanborn. Ashland: C. V>. Perry. 
W^auwatosa ; S. W. Randolph, Manitowoc; Louis Bohmrich, Milwaukee: 
Sol P. Huntington. Green Bay. (Joseph ]\IcBell, Secretary, ^lilwaukee. ) 

New York : William J. Conners, George D. Emerson, William Simon. 
John F. Malone. Edward D. Jackson. ButTalo ; Simon L. Adler. Rochester: 
IMartin H. Glynn, Albany: Clinton B. Herrick, ^I. D.. Troy: William F. 
Raffcrty, Syracuse : William L. Ormrod, Churchville ; Jacob SchitTerdecker, 
Brooklyn. 

Rhode Island: John P. Sanborn, Newport: Louis N. Arnold, A\'esterly : 
Sumner Mowry, Peace Dale ; Henry E. Davis, Woonsockett : Colonel Harry 
Cutler, Providence. 

Kentucky : Colonel Henry Watterson, Colonel Andrew Cowan. Louis- 
ville; Samuel ^1. Wilson, Lexington; Colonel R. W. Nelson, Newport: 
Mackenzie R. Todd. Frankfort. 



88 




MASONIC EXP^RCISES AT THE LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE OP THE MEMORIAL. 

July 4, 1913. 



U]juu the occasion of the laying of the corner stone of the Memorial the 
Ohio Commissioners bore the relationship of hosts to the Commissioners 
of the Inter-State Board and distinguished guests, and the ceremonies were 
in part intended to signalize the transfer of the title to the site of the 
:\lemorial, by the State of Ohio to the Inter-State Eioard. Subsequently the 
interests of both in the ^lemorial property were transferred to the United 
States Government by act of the Ohio General Assembly. 

The ceremonies on the Fourth of July were favored by ideal weather 
conditions and began at 10 o'clock a. m., with the decoration, by the school 
chiUlren of Put-in-Fiay, of the graves of the American and British officers 
killed in the I'attle of Lake Erie. Simple but most impressive religious 
services were conducted by the Rev. J. ^I- Forbes, of Put-in-Bay, and a 
military band played a recjuiem for the heroic dead. 

At 1 o'clock p. m. occurred the laying of the corner stone of the ^Memorial Laying the 
under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ciorner 
Ohio, in the presence of Commissioners of the Inter-State Board, the Lieu- 
tenant Governor of Ohio, representing the Governor, judges of the Supreme 
C(mrt and members of the General Assemblv. There was an escort of several 



Stone 



89 



thousand uniformed Knights, a company of Ohio miUtia and officers- and men 
from the naval militia ships anchored in the Bay, forming a memorable 
]Drocession from the "old graves" on the harbor to the Memorial, which at 
the time showed little more elevation than its imposing foundations. The 
masonic services were under the direction of Most Worshipful Grand Mas- 
ter Edwin S. Griffiths, of Cleveland, and, were concluded with the sealing 
of the steel box, containing historical data relating to the ^lemorial and 
Centennial Celebration, wliich was deposited in the corner stone. The 
contents of this box Vv^ere contributed under direction of the Inter-State 
Hoard, by its officers and those of the several State Commissions. They 
included copies of National and State Acts relative to the ]\lemorial, official 
records and documents of the Inter-State Board, the official program of 
the Centennial Celebration, a great vokmie of historical material approp iale 
to tlie occasion and copies of newspapers of the period. 
Formal At '2 o'clock p. m. the oratorical program was carried out in the great 

Exercises ^^^^j, ^^ ^j^^ Pnt-in-Bay Coliseum. President John H. Clarke, of the Ohio 
Commission, formally presented the Memnrial reservation to President 
General George H. Worthington, who delivered an appropriate response in 
behalf of the Inter-State Board. Colonel Henry W'atterson, First \'ice-Presi- 
dent-General of the Inter-State Board and President of the Kentucky Com- 
mission, delivered an eloquent address, and the orator of the day. Com- 
missioner John Al. AX'hitehead, of Wisconsin, closed the exercises with an 
exhaustive historical review of the Battle of Lake Erie and its consequences. 
In the evenine occurred a great display of fireworks, followed by a ban- 
ciuet tendered bv the Ohio Commissioners to the Inter-State Board and 
officials and guests of the State of Ohio. The program of toasts and re- 
sponses was as follows, with President Clarke acting as toastmaster : "The 
State of Ohio and the Perry Centennial," Lieutenant Governor Hugh M. 
Nichols; "Masonery and Patriotism," Edwin S. Griffiths, M. \\'. Grand 
Master of Ohio Grand Lodge F. and A. M.; "Federal Aid for the Perry 
^lemorial," General Issac R. Sherwood, ^\. C. ; "Patriotism in the General 
Assembly," Representative Cyrus B. Wmters, of Erie County: "Ideals of 
Government," Senator Daniel F. Mooney, -Vhl r)hio District; "Smiles and 
Appropriations," Webster P. Huntington, Secretary General of the Inte*'- 
State Board; "The Perry Centennial Exemplifies the B)rotherhood of Man," 
Attorney General of Ohio Timothy S. Hogan ; "The Inspiration of the 
Perry Alemorial," J. H. Freedlander, architect of the ^Memorial ; "The Re- 
sponse of the Participating States to Ohio's Invitation,'' Senator A. E. Sisson, 
Treasurer-General of the Inter-State Board and President of the Pennsyl- 
vania Commission; "Perry's \'ictory the Precursor of One Hundred Years 
of Peace," General J. Warren Keifer, L'nited States Commissioner. 

From the Fourth of July to the formal celebration of the centenary of 
the Battle of Lake Erie, September 10th, Put-in-B.ay was the scene of 
daily patriotic observances of the centennial period. Many patriotic societies, 

90 




PRESIDENT GENERAL WORTHINGTOX'S YACHT PRISCILLA. FLAGSHIP OF THE 

CENTENNIAL REGATTA 

educational institutions and military and industrial organizations held their 
annual meetings on the Island, and half a million people visited the slowly 
rising ^lemorial. The Niagara twice visited the ancient harbor during this 
period, remaining from two to five days in port, and was received with the 
greatest enthusiasm on both occasions. 

The marine interest of the summer centered in the Perry's Centennial 
Regattas, under the auspices of the Inter-Lake Yachting Association, con- 
ducting its twentieth annual regatta. A program of four weeks was devoted 
to regattas of sail yachts, power boats, aviation, rowing, canoeing, swim- 
ming and other water sports, and many of the events included National as 
well as Inter-Lake participation. L'pon this occasion the naval militia in- 
terests of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts were for the first time represented 
at an inland event of this character. 

The Centenary exercises commemorating the Battle of Lake Erie were held centenrial 
on September !ith. loth, and 11th. at which time ceremonies of a semi-dedica- Celebration 
tory nature were celebrated at the unfinished Memorial and a public meeting 
in the Put-in-lJay Coliseum and a centenarv banquet at Hotel Breakers, 
Cedar Point, under the auspices of the Inter-State Board. 

The afternoon meeting in the Coliseum at Put-in-Bay September 10th, the 
KlUth anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie, was called to order bv Presi- 



91 



Centemual 
Eanquet 



Concluding 
Ceremonies 



dent-General George H. Worthington. who introdnced Hon. James 'M. Cox. 
Governor of Ohio, as master of ceremonies. Addresses appropriate to the 
occasion were deHvered by Former President of the United States William 
H. Taft. Dr. J. A. Macdonald, of Toronto, for the Dominion of Canada: 
Hon. Emory A. Walling, of Erie, Pa.; Hon. R. P. Purchard, Lieutenant 
Governor of Rhode Poland, and the Rev. A. J. Carey (colored), of Chicago. 

In the evening of the same day the Inter-State Roard tendered a ban- 
ciuet to the distinguished guests at the Hotel Preakers, Cedar Point. Eight 
hundred and thirty guests sat at tables, including official, military, naval and 
civic representatives of all the participating States. An introductory address 
(if welcome was delivered by Commissioner j\Plton W. Shreve, of Pennsyl- 
vania, and the invocation by the Rev. Charles H. Herr, of St. Charles parish, 
Toledo. 

At the conclusion of the banquet. President Clarke, of the Ohio Commis- 
sion, took charge of the oratorical program as toastmastcr. and the follow- 
ing notable responses were made by the guests of honor seated at the 
speakers' table : Hon. James M. Cox, Governor of Ohio, "Ohio and the 
Perry Centennial ;" Hon. John K. Tener, Governor of Pennsylvania, "The 
Keystone of Patriotism ;" Hon. James B. McCreary, Governor of Ken- 
tucky, "Kentucky in the War of 1812 ;" Hon. Edward F. Dunne, Governor 
of Illinois, "American Progress Made Possible by the Battle of Lake Erie ;" 
Hon. Aram J. Pothier, Governor of Rhode Island. "Commodore Perry, the 
Commander and the Man ;'" Hon. Woodbridge N. Ferris, Governor of 
Michigan, "Lewis Cass, Michigan's Hero in the War of 1S12 ;" Hon. Francis 
E. ]\IcGovern, Governor of Wisconsin, "The Relations of the English Speak- 
iiig People Since the War of 1812 ;" Hon. William Sulzer, Governor of Xew 
York, "The War of 1812 the Precursor of a Century of Peace;" Hon. 
Samuel M. Ralston, Governor of Indiana, "Arbitration or W^ar ;" ]\Irs. 
William Gerry Slade, President of the National Society United States 
Daughters of 1812, "Our Society and its Work;" Lieutenant General Xelson 
A. Miles, U. vS. A., Federal Commissioner of the Perry's Victorv Centennial, 
"Our Federal Government Forgets not its Heroes ;" Doctor James A. Mac- 
donald, of Toronto, "Canada and the United States;'' Hon. William H. Taft. 
former President of the United States; "The JMeasure of a Nation's True 
Success." 

At 12 o'clock noon the following day, September 11th, occurred the dis- 
interment, at Put-in-Bay, of the bodies of the American and British officers 
killed in the Battle of Lake Erie, September 10, 1812, and their re-interment 
beneath the rotunda of the Memorial. The religious services were under 
the direction of the Rt. Rev. James DeWolf Perry, D. D., Bishop of Rhode 
Island, and the Rev. Venerable Archdeacon H. J. Cody, D. D., L. L. D., of 
Toronto, and their assistants, including the vested choir of the Grace Episco- 
pal Church of Sanduskv, Ohio. 



92 




CLERGY AT THE MEMORIAL 
Awaiting the Catafalque Containing the Remains of the Amerit-an and British Officers 

Killed in the Battle of Lake Erie. 



The military exercises were under the direction of Commissioner Harry 
Cutler, of Rhode Island, Colonel Commanding- the First Light Infantry 
Regiment and Band of Providence, R. I., as Chief Marshal. Participating 
in these exercises were a provisional battalion of United States Infantry, 
Capt. H. A. Smith commanding ; officers and men from the U. S. S. Wol- 
verine, Capt. William L. Morrison commanding; the Third Coast Artillery 
Company of the Rhode Island National Guard ; the Third Division of the 
Rhode Island Xaval Battalion : officers and men from the U. S. S. Essex, 
Dorothea. Don Juan de Austria and Hawk. Captain Anthony F. Nicklett 
Commanding; the Newport Artillery Company, Rhode Island Militia, and 
the First Light Infantry Regiment and Band, Rhode Island Militia. 

A brilliant procession, composed of these vmits, and headed by Chief 
Tvlarshal Cutler, the white-robed clerical representatives of the Episcopal 
church, the guests of honor and Governors of States escorted by members of 
the Inter-State Board, formed near the Memorial reservation and marched 
to the graves of the heroic dead on the border of the shaded park skirting 
the beautiful harbor of Put-in-Bay. The remains of the martyred American 
and British officers, which were buried at this spot one hundred years pre- 
viously, had been exhumed, under the personal supervision of Commissioner 
lohannsen, of Ohio, bv seamen from the crew of President General W'orth- 



Military 
Exercises 



93 




NAVAL MILITIAMEN BEARING THE CATAFALQUE INTO THE MEMORIAL 

ino-ton's yacht, Priscilla, under the command of Captain Charles T. Webster. 
They were but the fragments of mortal remains, but fully identified, scienti- 
fically as well as historically. Sealed in an air-ti^;ht l:o::, they were placed 
by reverent hands in a magnilicent catafakiue, made for the occasion and 
l^.iirne by representatives of the naval militia, as the procession drew near 
and paused at the dismantled monument of cannon balls which had long- 
marked their resting place, and which, erected as a modest tribute of pa- 
triotism by the i)eople of Put-in- I'.ay, had hitherto been their only memorial. 
As the remains were lifted in ])lace. Secretary General Huntington and 
Financial Secretary Todd, of the Inter-State Board, stepped forward from 

Flags of ^1 ^vaitino- procession, the former with a large silk American hag, and the 

Two Nations *= ^ , -,,,•• i 4-1 

- latter with a P.ritish flag of the same material and dmiensions : and the 

emblems of the two Nations were draped over the black hangings of the 
catafalque. Minute guns pealed forth from the ships in the harbor: the 
First Light Infantrv Regiment Band of Rhode Island sounded the opening 
strains of a funeral march, the catafalque-bearers lifted their precious bur- 
den, and amidst a reverent silence not broken by thousands of spectators, 
tliC procession circled the nov.' untenanted graves and directed its course 
cdong the Bay shore toward the Memorial. 

Temporary stairways had been improvised at the ?^Icmorial, to obtain 
ingress to the bare and un-roofed rotunda for the comparatively few clerical 

94 



ciiul official personages who conducted the ceremonies. In the space which 

was to be the entrance toward the Lake shore, the Bishop of Rhode Island. 

the Rev. \>nerable Archdeacon Cody and their assistants, surrounded by the 

vested choir, awaited the coming of the catafalque. Members of the Inter- „, , 

. . . . The Last 

State Board and distinguished guests took up positions within the rotunda. Rest of 

tlie musicians and various organizations composing the procession sur- Heroes 

rounded the great column with bared heads, and innumerable spectators 

viewed the scene from every point of vantage. The catafalcpe was borne 

slowlv up the stairway, and upon reaching the crypt in the Hoor of the rotunda 

tlie box containing the remains was withdrawn from it and lowered into the 

open space. Solemn funeral rites were celebrated, and a solitary bugler blew 

"taps" as the last resting place of all that was mortal of the brave men who 

had contended for an empire in the Battle of Lake Erie was sealed forever. 

Thus the more than two month's celebration of the centenary of the Battle 
and of the ensuing century of peace between English-speaking people was 
concluded. 

The countless details of the major celebration of the i)ast two days had Perfect 
been carried out in perfect w^orking order. There were more than a thousand -Details 
official guests of the Inter-State Board on this occasion, hundreds of them 
coming to Put-in-Bav from remote p:)ints. North, South, East and West, 
and returning in accordance with original plans to their several places of 
departure. Aside from the admirable conduct of the military phases of the 
Celebration by Chief ^Marshal Harry Cutler, commanding the First Light 
Infantry Regiment and Band of Rhode Island, months of preparation in 
detail had been required for the remarkable success of the event, which was 
due in large measure to the oversight of Financial Secretarv Todd, of the 
Inter-State Board, and the resourceful work of Director of Publicity Charles 
S. ]\Iagruder, of the Ohio Commission. 

The organization of the Inter-State Board, at all times supervised by 
President-General W'orthington, and with the execution of its plans aided by 
Commissioner fohannsen, of ()hio, on the ground, had throughout the sum- 
mer of 191o proved equal to its manifold tasks; with the result that history 
was made, as well as celebrated, in the official performance of the duty which 
the laws of the Nation and of eight sovereign States had imposed upon their 
Commissioners. 




95 



I 



tion 



The Restoration and Cruise 
of the Niagara 



X a pamphlet entitled, "The Perry's Victory Centennial Souvenir," pulv 
lished by The Journal of American Histor}- in 1!)1;), and widely circu- 
lated in connection with the cruise of the Niagara around the Great 
Lakes in the summer of that year, reference is made to the Pennsylvania ap- 
propriation bill of 1011* as "containing the first allusion, in official documents 
of the Perry Celebration, to Perry's unraised flagship entombed in the har- 
bor at Erie." 

And the author of the pamphlet continues : "Who first definitel}' broached 
Origin of ^''^ splendid project of raising the Niagara — whether General Sisson, of 
theRestora- the Commission, or Captain William L. ^Morrison, of the Pennsylvania naval 
force aboard the Wolverine — it may be difficult positively to determine : but 
to both of these gentlemen it early presented itself as a practical possibil- 
ity, since which time they have enthusiastically worked together, early and 
late, with a success now known to the entire Nation." 

It can be no reflection upon the verv efficient services of Captain [Morrison 
in the restoration of the Niagara (and the facts should be known in justice 
to the truth of History ) to record that the raising of the old flagship was 
the original thought of Senator Sisson, long prior to his appointment as a 
Commissioner of Pennsylvania, and that the reference to the subject in the 
Pennsylvania bill was not "the first allusion to it in official documents." 
There is no doubt that the idea of raising the Niagara occurred to Senator 
Sisson instantlv on his being advised of the objects of the Ohio Commis- 
sioners in visiting Harrisburg in April, 190!) ; and, as the result of the im- 
pressions which he at that time communicated, the subject was referred to 
in a report to the Governor of Ohio wdiich the Commissioners of that State 
authorized their secretary to draft at a meeting held November 1"2, l!»i)9, 
more than two years prior to the introduction of the Pennsylvania bill. 
Conclusively, upon this subject, this report, which before being filed was 
read and approved at the first joint meeting of State Commissioners, held 



*See Page oT in this volume. 



96 



at Toledo, December 3, 11)09, which was attended by Commissioners Sisson, 
Shreve, Tones and Xeff, representing Pennsylvania, said : "Representa- 
tives of the State of Pennsylvania have proposed to raise and restore the 
wreck of the flagship Niagara, of Commodore Perry's fleet, which has lain 
for nearlv a centurv at the bottom of the harbor of Erie." The cml)odiment 




THE RESTORED NIAGARA 

of this language in the Ohio report was undoubtedly due to the conferences 
at Harrisburg between Senator Sisson and its author, seven months before 
the report was written, when the first legislation of the Keystone State, 
looking to the appointment of Commissioners, was under consideration. As 
a matter of fact, the enthusiasm created at the Toledo meeting before which 
this report was read, and which resulted in greatly expanding the views 
of the Commissioners present both in reference to the Centennial Celebra- 
tion and the Memorial, was largely due to the fascination which lingered 
about the proposal to raise and restore the Niagara. 

97 



Diver's 
Examina- 
tion 



Prepara- 
tions for 
Raising 



In the summer of 1912 the Pennsylvania Commissioners authorized Cap- 
tain ^lorrison. at that time commanding the historic Pennsylvania naval 
militia ship Wolverine, formerly the Michigan, to employ a diver to make a 
careful examination of the condition of the Niagara, and this was promptly 
done. 

"At the request of the Pennsylvania Perry's \'ictory Centennial Com- 
mission," reads Captain Morrison's report, made at the time, "the T. A. 
Gillespie Company diver was engaged to make an examination of the 
Niagara, sunk in Misery Bay, part of Erie Harbor, Pennsylvania. The 
wreck is located in about twenty feet of water, buried on an average in six 
feet of sand and mud. The starboard side was intact to a height of some 
six feet. The port side was more completely buried in. the sand, and seemed 
to be in fair condition. The stem and stern-post were intact. I respect- 
fully submit and consider it practical to rebuild this ship, and from the 
examination am satisfied that two-thirds of the original structure is still in- 
tact." 

The contract for raising and beaching the Niagara was let November 10, 

1912, "but owing to the severity of the weather and snow storms," in the 
words of Captain Morrison, "the work could not be satisfactorily accom- 
plished as in more suitable weather." During the fall and winter the work 
went on slowly, most of the time through holes cut in the ice covering 
Misery Bay. Working through twenty feet of w^ater, a sand sucker was 
used to uncover the hull, which lay buried in six feet of sand, ^^'■ith the 
removal of this sand, preparations were made for the work of raising, by 
passing four chains under the hull. 

As described by Ensign Kessler, of the Wolverine, to accomplish this 
"two pieces of two-inch pipe were joined at an angle and attached to the 
bottom, giving a hydraulic pressure of approximately two hundred pounds 
per square inch. This pipe then formed a very powerful jet, which was 
placed in position at one side of the wreck and gradually forced under the 
hull by means of the hydraulic pressure behind it. The mud and sand were 
blown away, inch by inch, and the pipe-jet forced further and further under 
the wreck, until ropes attached to the ends of this pipe-jet could be fished up 
on the opposite side of the hull, and a heavy chain, attached to these ropes, 
drawn underneath the vessel.'' 

Four chains, one forward, one aft, and two amidships, were thus placed 
around the sunken hull and made fast to strong beams, supported on pon- 
toons, one on either side of the wreck. The actual raising was then begun, 
the hull of the historic battle-brig being "raised a link at a time," as 
expressed in one of Captain ^Morrison's reports, "by means of a twenty- 
foot lever." 

The Niagara was brought to the surface on a blustering day, ]\Iarch 6, 

1913, without any damage or breaking of her hull. Gradually the old brig. 



98 




1—1 

o 

p 
w 

o 

Q 



en 



of Admiral 
Davis 



still chained to the beams supported by the two pontoons, was shifted toward 
the shore of ^liserv Bay. On account of ice and the severe weather, the 
actual beachino- was delayed until April 1, 1913. 

Meanwhile, in the latter part of March of the same year, a meeting- of 
Co-operation ^].^. Sub-Committee of the Executive Committee of the Inter-State P.oard 
was held at Washington, fortunately resulting in deeply interesting Rear 
Admiral Charles H. Davis, U. S. N., Federal Commissioner, in the practical 
work on the Niagara's restoration. That interest subsequently insured the 
event in accordance with the requirements of historical accuracy. 

Regarding his invaluable co-operation with the plans and processes. Rear 
Admiral Davis wrote to the author of the present History, in April, 1917 : 

My connection with the restoration of the ship was as an authority, for 
consultation and advice. I became interested in the work through a con- 
versation with Treasurer-General Sisson at our meeting in ^^'ashington, in 
March, 1913. I found that there would be serious mistakes made unless 
expert advice was taken, for no one connected wath the work knew anv- 
thing about that tvpe of ship. Consequently I co-operated wath Captain 
Morrison, who had charge, furnishing drawings of many details, of the hull 
and rigging, notablv of the battery, and inspected and corrected the work- 
ing drawings. All of this was done through correspondence with Treasurer- 
C7eneral Sisson and Captain Morrison. I never saw the ship until we met 
lier at Sanduskv, in September, 1913. 

When the remains of the Niagara were raised from the bottom of the 
Lake, there was enough of her left to determine her lines, and fortunately 
there' were two contiguous gun-ports which showed the spacing and number 
of the ports ; and the steps" of both masts were still visible in the keelson. 
The shelf for the deckbeams was also traceable. The sail plan was got from 
the Bureau of Construction, from a plan of a vessel of corresponding class. 

Captain Morrison took the keenest interest in the work, the result of which 
was very satisfactorv. There were some mistakes made and some omissions. 
1 have consulted w'ith Treasurer-General Sisson since, and went over the 
ship with him at Erie in 1914; and I have hopes that, if money can be pro- 
cured for her repair and preservation, these mistakes may be corrected and 
the ship be made more complete and realistic. 

Admiral Davis wrote from the technical standpoint of a naval expert. To 
the untrained eye of the average layman the Niagara was as "realistic" when 
she entered the various ports on her Centennial voyage in 1913 as she was 
to Captain Barclay and the sailors of the British fleet when she turned her 
broadsides upon them in the Battle of Lake Erie. 

The state in which the Niagara reached the surface, on ^larch 6th, is best 
described in a report made by Captain Morrison : 

The condition of the hull is as follows : The starboard side was gone to 
the point of the turn of the bilge. The port side was intact amidships to 
the height of the rail for a distance of sixty feet, showing six gun ports. 
This section had to be removed before the ship was hauled out, as there 

]{)0 



Re-Building 



were no decks left to support same. The keel, stem, stern-posts and natural 
knee floor timbers were in an excellent state of preservation, and will be 
used in the rebuilding of the brig^. The bulwarks were of white pine, with 
red cedar and black walnut stanchions ; the o:un-ports, ten feet center, were 
thirty-six inches square. Bolts, that held the gun Ijritchens, extended 
through the bulwarks and are fastened with slot and key. The action of the 
acid in the oak, in contact with the iron spikes, had in some cases eaten a 
hole two inches in diameter around the spikes. In other cases it had ap- 
parently preserved the wood and made each spike appear like a knot. The 
planking was worn away, presumably by the action of the sand, on an 
average of one inch. The oakum in the seams is still intact, and the seams 
were further calked with tea lead. 

The contract for the rebuilding of the Niagara was signed on Saturday 
evening, April 5th, and on Monday following, April 7th, the work began. The 
hull was set squarely into position, blocked up from the shore, with a proper 
bed, and wavs constructed. The lines of the vessel, with all her principal 
dimensions, etc., had been taken and transferred to a temporary mold loft. 

These lines and other data were transferred by Captain Morrison and 
Ensign Kessler, of the Wolverine. They showed how advanced was the 
art of ship-building a hundred years ago, as practiced by Henry Eckford 
and Noah Brown. On April 7th the planking on the sides of the Niagara was 
intact. 

The Niagara was, indeed, staunchly built, and it is astonishing how little 
of her structural parts were required to be restored. The rib between every 
frame was (is, it should be said, for these ribs are still in her) a "natural 
knee." Trees forking at a proper angle were selected and cut down so as to 
aiTord this natural bend, giving the old brig wonderful strength and ability 
to bear shocks and strains. Her keel is of black oak timber, fourteen by 
eighteen inches, remarkably preserved. It was used in its entirety in her 
rebuilding, as was most of the keelson, which is of timber ten bv twelve 
inches. The frames are twelve inches under at the keel, with a center dis- 
tance of twenty-one and one-half inches. The planking was of three-inch 
oak. 

Her hull was held together by wooden pins, "tree-nails," and hand-ham- 
mered wrought-iron spikes — material as substantial as the solid timbers they 
fastened. While some oakum was used, the brig was largely calked with 
lead, a novel feature explained by the statement of Noah Brown that oakum 
was hard to get. The lead made her absolutely secure and water tight. 

The steeler in the dead wood aft, instead of being of planks, was carved 
out of a single piece of wood. From stem to stern-post the Niagara is one 
hundred and eighteen feet long, has a thirty-foot beam, and a draft of 
about nine feet. 

She was rebuilt and ready to launch in two months' time, April Tth to 
June 7, 1913; and as rebuilt contains an unexpectedly large amount of her 
original timbers — keel, keelson, ribs or frame in all the lower part of the 

102 



Armament 



hull, stern-post, bow-stem, ami large part of her planking. Bv their long 
immersion in the water her timbers were simply embalmed and preserved. 
Her lines and dimensions were perfectly obtained from her as she came up, 
and great spikes still standing in her keelson marked the exact position of 
iier two masts. The arrangement of her gun-ports was also abundantly 
evident on her port side. As rebuilt she is still, in every essential, the old 
war-brig of ISl-'l. 

The Niagara was armed with eighteen thirty-two pound carronades, with 
two long twelve-pound guns, as "chasers,"' well forward in the bow. As re- 
built she has been given the same armament, her present guns being de- 
signed and cast as duplicates of the originals — of cast iron, with elevation 
adjustments effected by the wedge method. The gun barrel has a cast 
loop on its larger side which holds the barrel in the form of a trunnion by 
means of a long bolt. The entire gun and gun carriage swing on a pro- 
vided bolt, and the entire machine swings in horizontal range about this 
bolt, being supported in the rear of the carriage by four-inch rollers. 

The launching of the raised Niagara occurred on the morning of June 7, 
1913, in the presence of a distinguished and deeply interested, but not 
numerous, company. The launching party first inspected the ship. The 
props were then removed, the lines holding her were cut and she started 
down the ways. Half way down she refused to go farther, and it was 
evening before, with the assistance of tugs, she was brought into the water; 
l)ut, once there, she rode the waves as proudly as of yore. 

^Meanwhile the launching exercises were conducted on the shore of ^lisery 

Bay, preceded by a program of patriotic vocal and band music. President 

Sisson, of the Pennsylvania Commission, who was also Treasurer-General Launching 

Cx6rcis6s 
of the Inter-State Board, delivered the opening address. Aliss Sarah Reed, 

Regent of the Presque Isle Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, 
spoke for that organization, presenting a portrait of Commodore Perrv for 
the cabin of the Niagara. Lieutenant Governor Roswell B. Burchard, of 
Rhode Island, appropriately voiced the sentiment of Rhode Island, Perrv's 
native State, respecting the occasion : and the oratorical program closed with 
a valuable historical address by Commissioner ]\Iilton W. Shreve, of Penn- 
sylvania, Representative in Congress from the Erie district. 

The cost of raising and equipping the Niagara was assumed exclusively by 
the Pennsylvania Commissioners, from their general State appropriation. 
It approximated $35,000, and the old flagship continues as the property of 
the State of Pennsylvania, Avith permanent quarters at Erie. 

The itinerary of the Niagara in her prolonged cruise around the Great 
Lakes, visiting their principal ports, during the Centennial Celebration of 
1913, during which she was the center of attraction at all local celebrations, 
was arranged by the Inter-State Board, and the voyage was under the direc- 
tion of its general officers. The old ship made her debut in the series of 
celebrations, at the initial one held at Erie, beginning July Cth, and subse- 

103 



Itinerary 



Escorting 
Fleet 



Public 
Interest 



qnently pursued the following official itinerary: Fairport, Ohio, July 14th- 
1.5th; Lorain, Ohio, July 15th-20th ; Put-in-Bay, Ohio, July 20th-2Gth ; ^Ion- 
roe, Mich., July, 2Gth-27th; Toledo, Ohio, July 37th-30th ; ^lilwaukee. Wis., 
Aug. 4th-8th; Green Bay, Wis., Aug. 10th-i:3th ; Chicago, 111., Aug. IGth- 
21st; Put-in-Bay, Ohio, Aug. 2(5th-2Sth; Buffalo, N. Y., Sept. 2nd-6th ; 
■Sandusky, Ohio, Sept. 8th-9th ; Put-in-Bay, Ohio, Sept. loth-llth; Detroit, 
Mich., Sept. 12th-13th; Cleveland, Ohio, Sept. 14th-17th. 

The good ship was therefore continuously in service on her mission of 
patriotism during a period of two months and eleven davs. Due to the 
skillful management of her crew and of the officers and men of her naval 
militia convoys, her schedule was strictly carried out, with but a single 
exception, when severe storms delayed one of her arrivals at Put-in-Bay. 

Throughout her voyage the Niagara was under escort of two or more of 
llie naval militia warships of the Great Lakes, revenue cutters and other 
craft, at times making an imposing fleet. It was deemed unwise for the 
flagship to make the cruise under her own sail, and by arrangement with 
the Pennsylvania Commissioners she was placed in tow of the Wolverine, 
commanded by Captain Morrison. Her other permanent convoy for the 
Avhole voyage was the Ohio na\'al militia ship Essex, under command of 
Captain Anthony F. Nicklett, \vh<^ rendered most efficient service to the 
Wolverine's task of navigation and in strict observation of the itinerarw 
In addition to these vessels, acting as escort of the Niagara, there were, at 
various times and places, as units of the fleet, the Ohio naval militia ship 
Dorothea, the ?\Iichigan gun-boats Yantic and Don Juan de Austria, the 
United States gun-boat Hawk, provided by the New York Commissioners, 
the United States revenue cutters Tuscarora and Morrell, detailed by the 
Secretary of the Treasury, naval militia ships of Illinois and Wisconsin, and 
numerous fine private yachts, prominent among them being the Priscilla, 
owned and sailed by Commodore George H. Worthington, President-General 
of the Inter-State Board. 

No more fitting and at the same time brief tribute to the Nation-wide 
interest which was excited by the raising, restoration and cruise of the 
Niagara — an interest extending over a period of two years — could be cited 
here, than that of the historian of the New York Commission, Secretary 
George D. Emerson, contained in his voluminous report of the Buff'alo Cele- 
bration, in which he said : 

It is with the greatest pleasure that we are able to report that this proj- 
ect, unique in the histor}^ of the navies of the world, was successfullv car- 
ried out, and that millions of people along the Great Lakes and adjacent 
thereto were enabled to look upon and visit a war vessel wdiich had taken 
part in a great naval battle a hundred years before, and which again traversed 
the waters sailed over at the time. It is impossible to describe in words the 
enthusiasm which the appearance of this time-honored craft aroused in the 
multitudes who were permitted to share in the wonderful spectacle, un- 
et[ualed in anv generation, and which possibly may never be duplicated. 



104 




DECK TTKW OF THE RESTORED NIAGARA 

It was impossible even to consider the many demands for the presence 
of the Niagara which pubHc interest created, in cities on the Lakes and far 
remote. As an evidence of their wide-spread emphasis, it may be related 
that an invitation for the old flagship, with a proposition to pay all expenses 
of her transportation, whether by water or overland on flat cars, came to 
the Inter- State Board from New Orleans. 

The city officials of Cleveland were at first indififerent to the series of local 

celebrations planned in honor of the one Inmdredth anniversary of the 

Battle of Lake Erie, bn.t, as the Niagara made her rounds of the Lake ports, 

acclaimed by millions, the most insistent demands came from them looking to 

her presence at a late-planned but highh successful Cleveland celebration : 

and it was accorded. 

From the harbor of Cleveland the crowned and garlanded victor of the 
Tii-TiT^- riri i -r^-T-.r-i Homeward 

L)attle ot Lake Lne set forth for her permanent home at Erie, Pa., Septem- Bound 

ber IT. 1913, and in the port whose virgin forest gave her to American 

history a century before, found rest from her long voyage. 

In concluding this narration of her raising, restoration and cruise, it is 

most appropriate to cite certain observations of Rear Admiral Davis, Eederal 

Commissioner of the Inter-State I'oard, relati\'e to the ship and the battle 

whose tide she turned under the inspiration of the dauntless Perrv, contained 

in his letter already quoted in reference to the technique of her re-building. 

105 




O 






^- W " 



H 2; 
H O 

- H 

iz; 

o 






ft 
<1 



M 



"The Niagara and the vessels which composed Perry's httle squadron," 

wrote Admiral Davis, "fought and won one of the most important battles 

of naval historv ; but they were insignificant in themselves and must not be I-essons 

' of the 

taken as types of the heavy fighting ships of that day. They were sufficient Niagara 

for the purpose for which they were built ; but the Niagara and her sisters 

of Lake Erie bore about the same relation to the first-rate ships of their 

period that a fourth class cruiser, or gunboat, would bear to a first-line 

battleship in a modern navy. This fact should not be lost sight of, and the 

public should not be led to believe that the Niagara represents the full 

power of naval ships of her period. This in nowise detracts from the 

splendor of the victory, nor from the far-reaching importance of its results." 




107 



A Retrospect 
of the Battle of Lake Erie 



THE historic naval engagements of the world are to be judged perhaps 
from three standpoints, related to one another more or less through 
a common identity, but widely different in their immediate aspects. 
The armaments and number of men involved are one consideration ; the 
A Leader (juality of personal bravery and single leadership are another, and their near 
and remote consequences are a third. V'iewed from the standpoint of 
armament and the number of men engaged, the Battle of Lake Erie never 
could be regarded as important. Considered as to its revelations of personal 
bravery and the masterly leadership of one man, Oliver Hazard Perry, 
(See Appendix R)-it stands unsurpassed in history; and contemplated, 
after the lapse of a century, in the light of its stupendous consequences, it 
takes perhaps first rank in the annals of naval warfare as an epoch-making 
event. 

The universal tribute of popular romantic interest has been paid for a 
hundred years to this exploit, while historians have devoted to it a degree 
of attention in respect to both details and viewpoint conspicuous for the 
inconsistencv of their several narratives, though all have united in acknowl- 
edgment of the superior human courage and evidence of personal leadership 
which it presented to the people of the generation which witnessed it and 
to posterity. 

The most graphic story of the Battle of Lake Erie is undoubtedly that of 
the eminent historian, George Bancroft ; but it is interwoven with numerous 
impressions of the times and deductions of the author respecting matters 
not of first import, to such an extent that it cannot always be accepted as 
authentic, regarding minor details, while obviously it is not confined to 

108 



essential facts. Nevertheless, insofar as it is confirmed by other historians 
and the testimony of participants in the battle, notably that of Dr. Usher 
Parsons, fleet surgeon under Commodore Perry, as given in his address 
delivered at the dedication of the Perry Monument in Cleveland, Ohio, 
September 10th, I860, Bancroft's narrative is at once the most trustvv^orthy 
and interesting of all devoted to this vital chapter of American history ; and 
it is to him w^e are indebted for the dramatic account here largely repro- 
duced, of the events leading to "Perry's Victory," including the remarkable 
achievement of building and equipping his fleet and the incidents of the 
conflict in respect to both combatants. 

In the last weeks of 1812, Oliver Hazard Perry, a lieutenant in the 
United States Navy, then twenty-seven years of age, despairing of a sea- 
going vessel, sent to the Secretary of the Navy "a tender of his services for 

the Lakes." Tired of inactivitv, he was quickened bv the fame which men Perry's 

1 1 • 1 r 1 i ■ -1 1 ' A 1 1 Ambition 

even younger than lumself had just gamed on the ocean. At that tune he 

held the command of a flotilla of gun-boats, in the harbor of Newport ; 

"possessing an ardent desire to meet the enemies of his country," and 

hoping one day to lead to battle the able and brave men who were at that 

time under his orders, he took "unwearied pains to prepare them for such 

an event," training them to the use of small arms, the exercise of the great 

guns, and every warlike service on ship-board. 

The authority of Commodore Chaunce}-, who took charge in person of 
the operations on Lake Ontario, extended to all the upper lakes. He 
received Perry's application with delight, and accepted it with alacrity. 
"You," thus the veteran wrote to the impatient young man, "are the very 
person that I want, for a service in which you may gain a reputation for 
yourself and honor for your country." 

His sweet disposition, cheerfulness and modest courage, his intuitive 
good judgment and quickness of will, had endeared him to his subordinates; 
and one hundred and forty-nine of them, officers, men and boys, for the 
most part, like himself, natives of Rhode Island, volunteered to go with 
him, in the dead of winter, on the unknown service. 

Receiving his orders on the 17th of February, 1813, on that very day he 
^ent forward one-third of the volunteers, under Sailing-Master Almy, as 
many more on the 19th, under Sailing-Master Champlin, the rest on the 
21st, under Sailing-Master Taylor, and on the 22nd, delivering over his com- 
mand in Newport, he began the journey across the country, took with him, 
from his father's house, his brother Alexander, a boy of twelve, met Chaun- 
cey at Albany, and pursuing his way in part through the wilderness, he 
arrived, on the 3d of March, at Sackett's Harbor. The command on Lake 
Ontario was important, and to its chief officers was paramount. In conse- 
quence of a prevailing rumor of an intended attack by the British, on that 
station, to destroy the squadron and the vessels on the stocks, Chauncey 

109 



Arrival 
at Erie 



Building 
the rieet 



detained Perry and all his old companions for a fortnight, and one-third of 
these companions he never let go from his own ships on Lake Ontario. 

Not till the IGth of Alarch was Perry permitted to leave Sackett's Harbor. 
On the 24th he reached Buffalo. The next day was given to an inspection 
of the navy-yard at Black Rock. On the 26th Perry set out in a sleigh over 
the frozen lake and on the following afternoon reached the harbor of Erie. 
There he found that the keels of two brigs had been laid and three gun- 
boats nearly finished by New York mechanics, under the direction of Noah 
Brown, as master-shipwright ; but no precautions for defense had been 
taken ; not a musket was employed to guard against a sudden attack of the 
enemy ; nor had the ice been used for the transportation of cannon from 
Buffalo. The supervising power of the young commander was at once 
exerted. Before night he organized a guard out of the villagers of Erie, 
ordered Sailing-Master Dobbins (See Appendix S) to repair to Buft"alo, to 
bring up forty seamen, muskets, powder, and, if possible, cannon ; and wrote 
to the navy agent at Pittsburgh to hasten the movements of a party of ship- 
wrights, on their way from Philadelphia. 

The country expected Perry to change the whole course of the war in 
the West, by obtaining command of the water, which the British as yet 
possessed without dispute. The want of that supremacy had lost Hull and 
Winchester and their forces, had left to the British Detroit and Michilli- 
macinac and the Northwest, and still impeded all the purposes of General 
William Henry Harrison, cimimanding the American land forces. (See Ap- 
pendix T.) The route from Dayton, in Ohio, to the Lake, was so difficult 
that the line of road through the forest and prairies could be traced by the 
wrecks of wagons, clinging with tenacity to the rich, mirv soil ; while the 
difficulties of transportation by land, along the lake shore, were insurmount- 
able. Yet, to create a superior naval force on Lake Eri&. it was necessary to 
bring sails, cordage, cannon, powder, military stores, from a distance of five 
hundred miles, through a region of which a considerable part was unin- 
habited. ' 

Lender the cheering influence of Perry, the work proceeded with har- 
monious diligence. He was the central point of confidence, for he turned 
everything to account. The white and black oak, and the chestnut of thf 
neighboring woods, often cut down on the day on which they were used, 
furnished the frames of the vessels ; the outside planks were of oak alone, 
the decks of pine. To eke out the iron, every scrap was gathered from the 
village smithies and welded together. Of blacksmiths, but two came from 
Philadelphia ; others were taken from the militia, who were called out as a 
guard. Taylor, having, on the 30th of March, arrived from Sackett's Har- 
bor, with twenty officers and men. Perry left him for a few days in com- 
mand, and, by a hurried visrt to Pittsburgh, quickened the movements on 
which he depended for more artificers, canvas, muskets, small guns, shot 
and balls. 



110 



On the third of May the gun-boats were launched, and at sunset of the 
twenty-third, the brigs, each of 1-tl feet in length, of five hundred tons 
burden, pierced for twenty guns, were got ready for launching. Just at that 
moment Perry received information that Fort George, the British post at the 
outlet of the Niagara, was to be attacked by the American army, in concert 
with the fieet on Lake Ontario. As soon as night closed in, he threw him- 
self into a four-oared open boat ; through darkness, and against squalls and 
head-winds, reached Buffalo the next day, and on the evening of the twenty- 
fifth, joined Chauncey as a volunteer. 

"No person on earth could at this time be more welcome," said Chauncey 

to the young hero whose coming was unexpected. Perry was taken to 

counsel on the best mode of landing the troops and rendered essential aid in ^ort 

*" ^ O60rsfG 

their debarkation, winning general applause for his judgment, gallantry and 

alacrity. The official report declares that "he was present at every point 

where he could be useful, under showers of musketry." 

He escaped unhurt and turned the capture of Fort George to account for 
his duty on Lake Erie. The British being driven from both banks of the 
Niagara, Perry could remove from Black Rock the public vessels which 
had hitherto been confined there bv Canadian batteries. Of these the largest 
was the Caledonia, which Lieutenant Elliott had captured from the British 
in the previous year. The others were three small schooners and a sloop, 
trading vessels purchased for the government, and fitted out as gun-boats 
by Henry Eckford, of New York. They were laden with all the naval stores 
at Black Rock, and by the aid of oxen and seamen a detachment of two hun- 
dred soldiers was tracked against the vehement current. 

It took a fortnight of almost incredible fatigue to bring them up to 
Buffalo, where danger began. The little flotilla had altogether but eight 
guns. Finnis, a skillful and experienced officer, who still commanded the 
British squadron, was on the watch, with a force five or six times as great. 
But Perry, by vigilance and promptness, escaped, and in the evening of the 
eighteenth of June, just as the British squadron hove in sight, he brought 
his group of gun-boats into the harbor of Erie. 

The incessant exertion of all his faculties, night watching and unendine 
care, wore upon Perry's frame : but there could be no pause in his eft'orts, for 
there was no end to his difficulties. His example sustained the spirit of the 
workmen. One-fifth of them were sick, but the work was kept up all dav 
and all night by the rest, who toiled on without a murmur, and not one Lawrence 
deserted. The brig over which Perry was to raise his flag, was, by the ^agara 
Secretary of the Navy, named Lawrence, in honor of the gallant officer who 
could die in his country's service, but could not brook defeat ; the other, 
equal to it in size and strength, was called the Niagara. By the tenth of 
July all the vessels were equipped, and could have gone out in a day after 
the reception of their crews ; but there were barely men enough for one of 

111 



the brigs. All recruits were furnished, not directly from Philadelphia, as a 
thoughtful secretary would have ordered, but with much loss of time, 
roundabout, by way of Sackett's Harbor, and through Chauncey, who was 
under a perpetual temptation to detain the best on Lake Ontario. 

On the twentieth of July the British, now commanded by the veteran 
Barclay (See Appendix U), rode in triumph off the bar of Erie. Perry bent 
his eyes longingly on the east ; he watched the coming of every mail, of every 

A.ggravat- traveler, as the harbinger of the glad tidings that men were on the way. 

ing Delays "Give me men," he wrote to Chauncey, "'and I will acquire honor and glory 
both for you and myself, or perish in the attempt. Think of my situation; 
thie enemy within striking distance, my vessels ready, and I obliged to bite my 
lingers with vexation, for want of men. I know you will send them as soon 
as possible, yet a day appears an age." 

On the twenty-third Champlin arrived with a reinforcement of seventy 
persons, but they were "a motley set of negroes, soldiers and boys." Chaun- 
cey repelled all complaints. "I have yet to learn," said he, "that the color of 
the skin can affect a man's qualifications or usefulness. I have nearly fifty 
blacks on board of this ship, and many of them are among mv best men." 
Meantime Perry declared himself "pleased to see anything in the shape of 
a man." But his numbers were still incomplete. "My vessels," he again 
wrote, "are all ready, our sails are bent, Barclay has been bearding me for 
several days. I long to have at him ; he shows no disposition to avoid 
the contest." 

Perry had not in his character one grain of envy. Impatient as a spirited 
race-horse, to win the palm in the contest for glory, no one paid a heartier 
or more genial tribute to the merit of every other officer, even where, like 
Morris, a junior officer received promotion over his head. He now invited 
Chauncey himself to come up with sufficient men, beat the British on Lake 
Erie, and return to crush them on Lake Ontario. In his zeal for his country 
and the service, he subdued his own insatiable thirst for honor. Meantime 
he suffered most keenly from his compulsatory inactivity ; for letters from 
the Secretary of the Navy required his active co-operation with the army, 
and when he explained to Harrison the cause of delay, the Secretary chid 
him for letting his weakness be known. 

The harbor of Erie is a beautiful expanse of water, today oft'ering shelter 
to navies of merchantmen, but at that time isolated by a bar precluding the 
entrance or egress of vessels of considerable draught. It remained to lift 
the armed brigs over the shallow, and it was to be done as it were in the 
presence of an enemy. Success required secrecy and dispatch. 

On the first of August the British squadron disappeared. On the instant 
Perry seized the opportunity to affect the dangerous achievement. Camels 
had been provided to lift the brigs ; the lake was lower than usual, but the 

112 



weather was still. The guns of the Lawrence, all loaded and shotted, were 

whipped out and landed on the heach, and on the morning of the second the 

camels were applied. 

On the first experiment the timbers yielded a little to the strain, and the The Fleet 

Ov6r tilxG 
camels required to be sunk a second time. From daylight on the second of Bar 

August, to the fourth. Perry, whose health had already sufifered, was con- 
stantly on the alert, without sleep or rest ; his example heartened his men. 

After toiling all day on the second, all the next night, the next day, and 
again another night, the Lawrence, at daylight, on the fourth, was fairly 
over the bar. On the fifth the Niagara was got over at the first attempt. 

"Thank God," wrote Perry, "the other sloop-of-war is over ; in a few hours 
I shall be after the enemy, who is now making ofif." 

Ill provided as he was with men and officers, he gave chase to the British, 
but his daring was vain ; they retreated to Maiden, and he returned to anchor 
off Erie. 

Till the new ship, which the British were eqliipping at ^lalden, should be 
ready, Perry had the superiority, and he used it to lade his vessels with 
military stores for the army near Sandusky ; but, for a battle on the Lake, 
he needed officers, as well as seamen. 

"I have been on the station," he could say, "for five months, without an 
officer of the least experience, except one sailing-master." 

Just then a midshipman arrived with a letter that Lieutenant Elliott (soon 
promoted to a commander) was on the way, with eighty men and several 
officers, and a vessel was at once hurried off to bring them up. But a letter Arrival 
also came to Perry from Chauncey, marked in its superscription, and in of Elliott 
every line by impatience, if not by insult. Perry was justly moved bv its 
tone, but, after complaint, remonstrance, and further letters, he acted like 
"an officer whose first duty it is to sacrifice all personal feelings to his public 
duties." 

Elliott, on his arrival, took command of the Niagara, and Perry, with a 
generosity that was natural to him, allowed him to select for his own ship 
the best of the men who came with him. 

On the twelfth. Perry, having traced his plan of battle, in case of attack, 
ranged his squadron in a double column, and sailed for the upper end of the 
Lake. Arriving off Cunningham Island, one of the enemy's schooners ap- 
peared in sight, was chased, and escaped capture only by disappearing at 
nightfall among the islands. 

On the evening of the nineteenth, as the squadron lay off Sandusky, Gen- 
eral Harrison came on board the Lawrence with Cass, McArthur, Gaines 
and Croghan. At the same time came six and twenty chiefs of the Shaw- Visit from 
nees, Wyandots and Delawares, by whose influence it was hoped to detach ■^*^"^*'" 
the Indians of the Northwest from the British service. Between Harrison 
and Perry the happiest spirit of concert prevailed. The General pointed out 

113 



Illness of 
Perry 



Plans for 
Battle 



to him the excellence of the harbor, Put-in-Bay, which became his anchoring 
"•round after he had landed the stores for the armv and reconnoitred the 
British squadron at Maiden. 

Chauncev had promised to send fifty marines but had recalled them when 
on their way to Lake Erie. Harrison, who saw the want unsupplied and 
observed how much the little squadron had been weakened by sickness, now 
sent on board from his army near one hundred men, all of whom were vol- 
unteers. Some of these, having served as boatmen on the Ohio, were put 
on (lutv as seamen ; the rest, chiefly men of Kentucky, who h.ad never before 
seen a ship, acted as marines. 

Tust then Perry was taken down by a violent attack of lake fever, but it 
was no time to yield to physical weakness ; he gave up to the care of himself 
onl\- the few davs necessary to make the crews acquainted with each other 
and to teach the new men the use of the guns. 

On the first of September he was able to be on deck and again sailed 
toward ]\Ialden. Here he found that the British had equipped their new 
ship, which they had proudly named Detroit as a memorial of their con- 
quest ; Init, though Perry defied them, the British, as yet, showed no dispo- 
sition to meet him, and he returned to Put-in-Bay. 

Ijut meantime the British army, which had been accustomed to the abun- 
dance and security which the dominion of the water had afforded, began to 
suffer from the want of provisions : and. to restore the uninterrupted com- 
munication with Long Point. General Proctor insisted on the necessity of 
risking a naval engagement, of which the issue was not thought uncertain. 
Of this Perry was seasonably informed. 

On the sixth he again reconnoitred Alalden and finding the enemy still at 
his moorings, he returned once more to fill his anchorage, to make his final 
arrangements for the conflict, which was inevitably near at hand. On the 
evening of the ninth, he summoned by signal the commanders of the several 
vessels, and gave them their instructions in writing. It was his policy to 
fight the enemy at close quarters ; to each vessel its antagonist on the British 
side, was marked out; to the Lawrence, the Detroit; to the Niagara, the 
Queen Charlotte; and the written order said: "Engage each your desig- 
nated adversary in close action, at half cable-length." He also showed them 
a flag of blue bunting, on which were painted in white letters the last words 
of Lawrence, "Don't give up the shil^." It was a bright autumn night; the 
moon was at the full ; as they parted, each to return to his vessel, the last 
injunction of their young commander was given, in the words of Xelson : 
"If you lay your enemy close alongside, you cannot be out of your place." 

At sunrise, on the tenth, the British squadron was discovered from the 
masthead of the Lawrence, gallantly bearing down for action. To Perry, 
all languishing as he was from the wasting attack of a severe bilious fever, 
the news was as welcome as the bidding of the most important duty of his 



114 



life. His anchors were soon lifted, and his squadron bei^an beating out of 
the bay, against a gentle breeze from the south-west. Three or four hours 
passed away in this contest with an adverse wind, when he resolved to wear 
ship, and run to leeward of the island. "You will engage the enemy from 
to leeward," said the Sailing-Master, Taylor. "To windward or to leeward," 
answered Perry, "they shall fight today." But Nature, on that occasion, 
came into an alliance with his hopeful courage, and the wind shifted to the 
south-east. A slight shower had fallen in the morning, the sky became 
clear. The day on which l'err\', forming his line, slowly bore up towards 
the enemy, then nearly three leagues ot^', was one of the loveliest of the 
beautiful days of Autumn. 

At first the Niagara led the van. When within about a league of the 
British. Perry saw that Barclay, with whose vessel he was tc/ engage, occu- 
pied the head of the British line, and he promptly altered the disposition of 
his vessels, to conform to it. 

The British squadron had hove-to, in close order, the ships' heads to the 
southward and westward, and waiting to be attacked, the sides of the ves- 
sels, newly painted, glittering in the sun, and their gay colors fiying in the 
breeze. The Detroit, a new brig of nineteen or twenty guns, commanded by Position 
Barclay, an experienced officer, who had fought with Nelson, at Trafalgar. °^ Vessels 
was in the van. supported by the Chippewa, a gun-boat, with one long- eigh- 
teen, on a pivot. Next rode tlie Hunter of ten guns. The Queen Charlotte, 
of seventeen guns, commanded by Finn is, a gallant and tried officer, who 
had commanded the squadron till Barclay's arrival, was the fourth and was 
flanked by the Lady Prevost, which carried thirteen guns, and the Little 
Belt, which had three. 

On the American side, Perr}-, in the Lawrence, of twenty guns, flanked 
'on his left by the Scorpion, under Champlin, with one long, and one short 
gun, and the Ariel, under Lieutenant Almy, with four short twelves, and 
sustained on his right by Turner, in the Caledonia, with three long twenty- 
fours, were to support each other, and cope with the Chippewa, the Detroit, 
and the Hunter ; while Elliott, in the Niagara, a noble vessel, of twenty 
guns, which was to encounter the Queen Charlotte, came next; and with 
Almy. in the Somers, with two long thirty-twos; the Porcupine, with one 
long thirty-two ; the Tigress, with one long twenty-four, and the Trippe, 
with one long thirty-two, was to engage the Lady Prevost and the Little 
Belt. The American gun-boat Ohio was absent on special service. 

In ships the British had the superiority, their vessels being- stronger, and 
their forces being more concentrated ; the American gun-boats at the right of 
the American line, separated from each other by at least a half cable's length, Forces 
were not near enough for good service. In number of guns the British had ^^P^'^^ 
G'3, the Americans 54. In action at a distance, the British, who had 35 long 
guns to 15, had greatl}- the advantage ; in close action the w^eight of metal 

115 



would favor the Americans. The British commander had one hundred and 
fifty men from the royal navy, eighty Canadian sailors, and two hundred 
and forty soldiers, mostly regulars, and some Indians, making, with their 
officers, a little more than five hundred men, of whom at least four hundred 
and fifty were efficient. The American crews, of whom about one-fourth 
were from Rhode Island, one fourth regular seamen, American or cosmopol- 
itan, about one-fourth raw volunteers from Pennsylvania, Ohio, but chiefly 
Kentucky, and about one-fourth blacks, numbered on the muster-roll four 
hundred and ninety, but of these one hundred and sixteen were sick, nearly 
all of whom were too weak to come on deck, so that the efficient force of the 
squadron was a little less than four hundred. 

While the Americans, having the weather-gauge, bore up for action. Perry 
unfolded to the crew of the Lawrence the motto flag ; it was received with 
hearty cheers and run to the top of the fore-royal in sight of all the squadron. 
The decks were wetted and strown with sand, to insure a firm foothold when 
blood should begin to flow ; and refreshments were hastily served. For an 
hour the stillness of expectation continued unbroken, till a bugle was heard 
to sound on board the Detroit, followed by loud and concerted cheers from 
all the British line, and Barclay began the conflict, in which the defeat of the 
Americans would yield to the British the superiority in arms on the land, 
bare the shores of Ohio to ruthless havoc and ravage, leave Detroit and the 
Far West in the power of the English king, let loose the savage with his 
tomahawk on every family of emigrants along the border, and dishonor the 
star-spangled banner on the continent and on the lakes. 

At fifteen minutes before twelve Barclay began the action by firing a 
single twenty-four pound shot at the Lawrence, which had then approached 
within a mile and a half, or less, of the British line. The shot did not take 
^f!-^?^ effect ; but it was clear that he desired to conduct the fight with the American 

squadron at a distance, which his very great superiority in long guns marked 
out as his wisest plan. It was. on the other hand, the object of Perry to 
bring his squadron as near to his antagonist as possible, for he had the ad- 
vantage in weig-ht of metal. In five minutes more a shot from the Detroit 
struck the Lawrence and passed through her bulwarks. 

At that moment the advantage lay altogether with the British, whose line 
headed nearly south-south-west. The Americans, as they advanced, headed 
about south-west, with the wind abeam; so that the two lines formed an 
acute angle of about fifteen degrees ; the Lawrence as yet scarcely reached 
beyond the third vessel in the British line, so that she was almost as much 
in the rear of the Detroit as in advance of the Queen Charlotte. The Cale- 
donia was in its designated place in the American line, at a half-cable's 
length from the Lawrence, and from the angle at which the line formed, a 
little less near the enemy. The Niagara, which followed the Caledonia, was 
abaft the beam of the Charlotte and opposite the Lady Prevost, but at a 



Begun 



116 



slightly greater distance from the British than the ships which preceded her. 
As for the gun-boats, they would have spread beyond the British lines by 
more than a quarter of a mile, had they been in their places, each distant 
from the other a half-cable's length ; but they were dull sailers, and the 
sternmost was more than two miles distant from the enemy and more than 
a mile behind the Lawrence. 

At five minutes before twelve the Lawrence, which was already suffering, 
began to return the British attack from her long twelve-pounder ; the two 
schooners on her weather-bow, the Scorpion under Champlin, the Ariel un- 
der Lieutenant Packet, were ordered bv trumpet to open their fire, and the 

ProffrGss 
action became general along the two lines. The two schooners bravely kept of Battle 

their place all the day and gallantly and steadily rendered every aid which 
their few guns and weight of armament allowed. The Caledonia was able 
to engage at once and effectively, for she carried two long twenty-fours ; but 
the carronades of the Xiagara fell short of their mark. Elliott therefore at 
first used only one long twelve-pounder, which was on the side toward the 
enemy ; but he soon moved another where it could be serviceable, so that . 
while his ship carried twenty guns, he discharged but two. which, however, 
were plied so vigorously, that in the course of two hours or more, nearly all 
the shot of that calibre was expended. The sternmost gun-boats could as yet 
take no part in the fight. 

It was under these circumstances that Perry formed the desperate but 
necessary resolution of taking the utmost advantage of the superior speed 
of the Lawrence, and leaving the Caledonia, he advanced upon the enemy; 
so that, however great might have been the zeal of every officer in the other 
ships of his squadron, he must necessarily have remained for a short time 
exposed alone. The breeze was light ; his motion was slow ; and as he fanned 
down with the flagging wind, the Detroit with her long guns planted her 
shot in the Lawrence deliberately and at discretion. The Scorpion and Ariel, 
all exposed as they were for the want of bulwarks, accompanied the flagship, 
but suff'ered little, for they were neglected by the enemy, who concentrated 
his fire on the Lawrence. 

At noon Perry luff'ed up and tried the eff'ect of the first division of his 
battery on the starboard side, but it did not much injure his antagonist. He 
therefore bore away again and approached nearer and still nearer, and, after 
firing a broadside at a quarter past twelve, once more continued his onward The 
course, till he arrived "within canister shot distance," or within five hundred Niagara 
yards, or a little less, when he took a position parallel to the Detroit : and, 
notwithstanding what he had suff'ered from loss of men and injury to his 
rigging, he poured in upon her a swift, continuous and effective fire. Here 
the good eff'ect of his discipline was apparent : his men showed how well they 
had been trained to the guns, which were rapidly and skillfully served. In 
the beginning of the conflict the Xiagara came in for a share of the attention 

117 



of the enemy, whose shot very early took et^ect upon her and carried away 
one of her fore-top-mast-back-stays. But at half-past twelve, Finnis, who 
commanded the Queen Charlotte, perceived that the Niagara, which was 
apparently destined for his antagonist, "kept so far to windward as to render 
his twenty-four-pounder carronades useless," made sail for the purpose of 
assisting the Detroit ; so that Perry, in the Lawrence, aided only by the 
schooners on his weather-bow and the distance shots of the Caledonia, had 
to contend in close action with more than twice his force. 

The carnage was terrible, yet the Commodore, as his men loved to call 
their young commander, was on that day nerved by a superior spirit. His 
voung brother, a boy of thirteen, was struck down at his side, but he was 
Awful spared the trial of seeing him die ; the blow came only from fragments, which 

Carnage |^^^ 1^^^^^ dashed to pieces by a ball ; and he soon recovered. Yarnall, his 

first lieutenant, came to him with the report that all the officers in his divi- 
sion were cut down and asked for others. They were assigned him; but 
he soon returned with a renewal of the same tale and the same request. 
"I have no more officers to furnish you," said Perry; "you must endeavor to 
make out by \ourself." And Yarnall was true to the admonition ; though at 
least thrice wounded, he kept on deck, ever directing his battery in person. 
Forest, the second lieutenant, was struck down at Perry's side, by a grape 
shot ; but the ball had spent its force ; he vv^as only stunned and soon recov- 
ered. The dvino-, with whom the deck was strewn, rested their last looks 
upon the countenance of their beloved commander ; and when men at the 
guns were swept away, the survivors turned silently round to catch his eye, 
as thev stepped into the places of their companions who had fallen. Brooks 
of Massachusetts, an excellent officer of marines, was fearfully mangled 
liy a cannon ball in the hip. Carried down to the surgeon's apartment, he 
asked no aid, for he knew his doom, and that he had life in him for only 
one or two half hours; but as he gave himself over to death, he often in- 
Cjuired how the day was going; and when the crowd of new-comers frcm 
the deck showed how deadly was the contest, he ever repeated his hope for 
the safety of the Commodore. 

It is unprofitable, for the purposes of this Retrospect, to analyze the mo- 
tives which prom])ted the conduct of Elliott, commanding the Niagara, at 
this critical moment. According to his own account, in conformity with his 
orders to close with the Queen Charlotte, he at first determined to run 
through the line in pursuit of her ; but he changed his purpose when he saw 
that the Lawrence was crippled. After a consultation with the purser, 
Magrath, who was an experienced seaman, he agreed that "if the British 
effect the weather gauge, we are gone ;" so he kept his place next in line 
to the Caledonia, which lingered behind because she was a poor sailer. 

Thus Perrv lay exposed to thrice his force, at the distance of fifteen hun- 
dred or a thousand feet, aided only by the two schooners on his beam and the 

MS 



The 
Stricken 



constant help of the Caledonia. I'nder the heavy fire the men on deck be- 
came fewer, Imt I'erry continued the action with unabated serenity. Parsons, 
the surgeon's mate, and the only man in the fleet who was then able to 
render surgical aid, heard a call for him at the small skylight, that let in the 
day upon his apartment; and as he stepped up he recognized the voice of his Lawrence 
commander, who said, with a placid countenance and quiet tone : "Doctor, 
send me one of your men," meaning: one of the six men allowed for assist- 
ance to the wounded. The call was obeyed ; in a few minutes it was succes- 
sively renewed and obeyed, till at the seventh call, Parsons could onlv answer 
that there were no more. 

"Are there any that can pull a rope?" asked Perry: and two or three of 
the wounded crawled on deck, to lend a hand at pulling at the last guns. 
Wilson Mays, who was so sick as to be unfit for the deck, begged to be of 



tise. 



"Put what can you do?" was the question. 

And he replied: "I can sound the pump, and let a strong man go to the 
guns." He accordingly sat down by the pump, and at the end of the fight 
was found at his post, "with a ball through his heart." The surgeon's apart- 
ment could offer no security to the wotmded. Pi the shallow vessel it was 
necessarily on a level with the water, and was repeatedly perforated bv 
cannon balls. ( )nce as the surgeon stooped to dress a wound, a ball passed 
directly over his head and must have destroyed him, had he not been bending 
down. A wounded midshipman, just as he left the surgeon's hands, was 
dashed against the ship's side by a cannon ball. On deck, the bulwarks 
were broken in, and round balls passed through the little obstructions; but 
as long as he could Perry kept up a regular and effective fire, so that the 
Detroit, of whose crew many were killed or wounded, was almost dismantled. 

On board the Queen Charlotte the loss was most important, for Finnis, 
her commander, "a noble and intrepid officer," fell at his post, and Lieu- 
tenant Stokes, the next officer in rank, was struck senseless by a splinter. 
On board the Lawrence the shrieks of the wounded and the crash of timbers 
shattered by cannon balls, were still heard ; but its own fire grew fainter and pjnuig 
fainter ; one gun after another was dismounted. Death had the mastery ; the Martyr 
the carnage was unparalleled in naval warfare; more than four-fifths of the 
effective officers and men on board were killed or disabled bv wounds ; the 
deck, in spite of the layer of sand, was slippery with blood, which ran down 
the sides of the ship ; the wounded and the dead lay thickly strewn every- 
where around. To fire the last gun. Perry himself assisted. At last everv 
gun in the ship's battery on the enemy's side were dismounted, everv brace 
and bow-line was shot aw^ay ; the vessel became unmanageable, in spite of 
the zeal of the commander and the great exertions of the Sailing blaster. 
And still Perry did not despair, but had an eye which could look through 
the cloud. 

lift 



Perry 
Transfers 
His riag 



Niagara 
to the 
Rescue 



Elliott, in the Niagara, hailed the Caledonia and ordered Lieutenant 
Turner to bear up and make way for him. Turner at once, without a word, 
put up his helm in the most daring' manner, and made sail for the enemy's 
line, using his small armament all the while to the best advantage ; while 
Elliott, under a freshening breeze, passed to the windward of the Caledonia, 
and then, firing as he went along, on the Charlotte, he steered for the head 
of the British line. Perry, who saw with the swiftness of intuition the new 
method that must be chosen now that the first failed, and who had already 
resolved to transfer his flag, with the certainty that, in the crippled state of 
the British, 'Victory must perch on his banner," immediately entered his 
boat with his commander's pennant and his little brother, and bade the 
sailors whom he took as oarsmen to row with all speed for the Niagara. 
The command of the Lawrence fell to Yarnall, with full discretionary power 
to surrender or hold out. Yarnall consulted with Forest and with Taylor : 
there were no more guns that could be used; and had there been, men were 
wanting to handle them. Fourteen persons alone were left well and unhurt, 
and only nine were seamen. Further resistance was impossible ; to hold 
out might only expose life recklessl}-. 

Officers and men watched anxiously the progress of Perry ; they saw the 
sailors force him to sit down ; they saw a broadside aimed at him and fall 
harmlessly around him ; they saw marines from three vessels shower at him 
musket balls, which only ruffled the water of the lake ; and at fifteen minutes 
before three, they saw the oars dipping for the last time, and their beloved 
commander climb the side of the Niagara. They had l^raved the enemy's 
tire for three hours ; could they not confide in help from their Commodore 
and hold out five mimites more ? True, they had no means of offence ; but 
the battle flag with its ringing words floated over their heads; they had a 
pledge to keep ; they had an enemy whose dying courage they should refuse 
to reanimate ; they had their country's flag to preserve unblemished ; they 
had the honor of that day's martyrs to guard ; they had a chief to whom they 
should have spared an unspeakable pain ; they had the wounded to consider. 
who with one voice cried out: "Rather sink the ship than surrender! Let 
us all sink together !" And yet a shout of triumph from the enemy pro- 
claimed to both squadrons that the flag of the Lawrence had been lowered ; 
nor did they then forebode how soon it was to be raised again. 

Meantime Perry climbed the gangway of the Niagara, radiant with the 
indomitable purpose of winning the day, with his fortitude unimpaired bv 
the crowded horrors of the last two hours. Running up his pennant and 
hoisting the signal for close action, he hove to and veered ship, altering her 
course eight points, set foresail, topsails and top-gallant sail and bore down 
to cut the British line, which lav at the distance of half a mile. 

The Lady Prevost, disabled by the loss of her rudder, had drifted to the 
westward and leeward from her ])lace in the line. Barclay, in the Detroit, 



120 



when he saw the prospect of a contest with another brig', had attempted to 
veer around, that he might bring his starboard broadside to bear, but in 
doing it he had fallen upon the Queen Charlotte. At this moment Perry, 
whom the freshened breeze had brought up with the British, cut their line, Victory 
placing the Chippewa and Lady Prevost on his left and the Detroit and i5°f^ 
Queen Charlotte on his right. As he did so, at half pistol shot, he raked the 
Lady Prevost with his broadside port while pouring his full starboard broad- 
side on the Detroit and Queen Charlotte, as they lay entangled and for the 
moment hopelessly exposed. The tide of battle had turned. Barclay, the 
ill-fated British commander, who had lost one arm at Trafalgar, received a 
desperate wound which was to deprive him of the other. He gave over the 
command and was carried below. 

Perry now ordered the marines to clear the decks of the Lady Prevost ; 
but the survivors, terrified by the raking fire which they had suffered, fled 
below, leaving on deck no one but their commander, who, having for the 
moment lost his senses from a severe wound in the head, remained at his 
post, gazing about with a vacant stare. Perry, merciful even in battle, 
stopped his guns on that side, but having lutTed athwart the two ships, which 
had now got clear of one another, he continued to pour into them a close 
deadly fire. 

The small vessels having by this time "got within grape and canister dis- 
tance," threw in close discharges from their side. The commanding officer 
of the Queen Charlotte, finding himself exposed to be raked ahead and 
astern, was the first to give up; one of her officers appeared on the tafi^rail of 
that ship and waved a white handkerchief, bent to a boarding-pike, in 
token that she had struck. The Detroit had become completely unman- 
ageable; every brace was cut away, the mizzen-top-mast and gaff were down, 
the other masts badly wounded, not a stay left forward, the hull very much 
shattered, and a few guns disabled ; at three, or a few minutes after, Lieu- 
tenant Inglis was therefore under the necessity of hailing the Americans, to 
say he surrendered. The Hunter yielded at the same time, as did the Lady 
Prevost, which lay to leeward under the guns of the Niagara. The Chip- 
pewa, on the right of the British line, and the Little Belt, on the extreme 
left, endeavored to escape ; but the first was stopped by Champlin in the 
Scorpion ; the other by Holdup Stevens in the Trippe. 

As the cannon ceased, an awful stillness set in, broken only by the feeble 
groans of the wounded or the dash of oars, as boats glided from one vessel 
to another. 

Possession having been taken of the conquered fleet, at four o'clock 
Perry sent an express to General Harrison with these words : Perry to 

DEAR GENERAL : WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY, AND THEY ^^^^^^^ 
ARE OURS; TWO SHIPS. TWO BRIGS. ONE SCHOONER AND 
ONE SLOOP. 

121 



The Price 
of Victory 



Brothers 
in Death 



As he wrote to the Secretary of the Navy, he attribttted his signal victory 
to the pleasure of the Almiohty. 

It was on board the Lawrence that Perry then received the surrender of 
his brave antagonists. This was due to the sufferings of her crew, to the 
self sacrificing courage of the unnamed martyrs who still lay unburied on 
her deck; to the crowed of wounded, who thought their trials well rewarded 
1)\- the issue. The witnesses to the act of the British olificers in tendering 
their swords were chiefly the dead and wounded, and the scene of sorrow 
tempered and subdued the exultation of triumph. 

The concjueror bade his captives retain their side-arms and added every 
just and unaft'ected expression of courtesy, mercy, and solicitude for their 
wounded. 

When twilight fell, the mariners who had fallen on board the Lawrence 
and had lain in heaps on the side of the ship opposite the British, were sewn 
up in their hammocks, and, wdth a cannon ball at their feet, were dropped 
one bv one into the Lake. 

At last, but not till this day's work was done, exhausted Nature claimed 
rest, and Perry, turning into his cot, slept. 

The dawn of morning revealed the deadly fierceness of the combat. Spec- 
tators from the Island found the sides of the Lawrence completely riddled 
by shot from the long guns of the British ; her deck was thickly covered with 
clots of blood ; fragments of those who had been struck, hair, brains, broken 
jtieces of bones, were still sticking to the rigging and sides. The sides ot 
the Detroit and Queen Charlotte were shattered from bow to stern ; on their 
larboard side there was hardly a hand's breadth free from the dent of a 
shot. Balls, cannister and grape were found lodged in their bulwarks; their 
masts were so much injured that they rolled out in the first high wind. 

The loss of the British, as reported by Barclay, amounted to forty-one 
killed, of whom three were officers, and ninet}-four wounded, of whom nine 
were officers. Of the Americans, twenty-seven were killed and ninety-six 
wounded. C)f these, twenty-one were killed and sixty-one wounded in the 
Lawrence, and about twenty more were wounded in the Niagara after she 
received Perry on board. 

An opening on the margin of Put-in- Llay was selected for the burial-i)lace 
for th.e officers who had fallen. The day was serene, the breezes hushed, the 
water unruffled b}- a wavelet. The men of both fleets mourned together; as 
the boats moved slowh' in ])rocession, the music played dirges to which the 
oars kept time; the flags showed the sign of sorrow; solemn minute guns 
were heard from the ships. The spot where the funeral train went on shore 
was a wild solitude; the Americans and r.ritish. walked in alternate counles 
to the graves, like men who, in the presence of eternity, renewed the rela- 
tion of brothers and members of one human family, and the bodies of the 
dead were likewise borne along and buried alternatel\-, English and American 
side by side, and undistinguished. 

122 



The wounded of both ilects, meetin<::,- witli equal assiduous care, were sent 
to Erie, where Barclay was seen, with tottering steps, supported between 
Harrison and Perry, as he walked from the landing-place to his quarters. 

Perry crowned his victory by his modesty, forbearing to place his own 
services in their full light, and more than just to others. When, in the fol- 
lowing year, he was rewarded by promotion to the rank of captain, he who 
had never murmured at promotion made over his own head, hesitated al^out 
accepting a preferment which might wound his seniors. 

There can be no denial of the truth of the historical record that "the 
mastery of the Lakes, the recovery of Detroit and the then Far West and 
the capture of the British Army in the peninsula of Canada were the im- 
mediate fruits" of Perrv's A^ictorv. General Harrison, with Governor Shelby, 
of Kentucky (See Appendix \'), and the troops under them would have ^^ ^j^g 
been left marooned on the northern shores of Ohio, if the British had won Republic 
th.at eventful day of the tenth of September, 1813. General Proctor, 
commanding the British forces, and his ally, the wise old Indian chief, 
Tecumseh, were awaiting on the northern shore of Lake Erie, news 
of the battle, with the same anxiety as that which ])revailed among the 
Americans on its southern shore. If Barclay should win. Proctor would 
invade Ohio, conveyed thither by the victorious British fleet ; if Perry, 
Harrison would essay the conquest of ^lichigan and Canada, as he subse- 
quentlv did successfully in the campaign terminating in the Battle of the 

Thames. 

The international Ijnundaries fixed in conformity with the Treaty 
of Ghent never would have been conceded by Great Britain in the final 
peace settlement, had Fate favored the unfortunate Barclay, instead of the 
triumphant I'erry. in the fight for American dominion over the Lake region. 
The victory redeemed to the Republic all the territory at that time in con- 
tention, but insured to it also the far greater physical expanse and unequalled 
natural resources of the national domain, from ocean to ocean, now constitut- 
ing the Union of States. No soldier or sailor of the W^ar of 1S12, no states- 
man of that period, no commissioner of either government engaged in 
framing the treaties which signalized its conclusion, could have foreseen the 
results of Perry's \'ictory. Judged by its consequences, it was one of the 
most important battles in the history of mankind. \ 

It is most fitting that, after the lapse of a century, the greatest of battle 
monuments and one of the noblest of memorials commemorates this immortal 
achievement of American arms over a worthy foe ; that it towers above the 
spot where, on the shores of an island wilderness, brothers of one tongue, 
lately in conflict, together buried their dead ; that its reflection gems the 
waters of the picturesque harbor in which Perry found refuge ; and that its 
pure outlines, visible for miles across the inland sea, shall bear witness, to 
all future generations, of a nation's gratitude for the deeds of its heroes and 
the hope of the American people for the peace of the world. 

123 - 



Appendix 



A. William Henry Powell, author of the 
celebrated historical painting, "Perry's Victory 
at the Battle of Lake Erie," was born in 
New York City, Feb. 14, 1823, and died there 
Oct. 6, 1879. He began the study of art under 
Henry Inman, in New York, and afterward 
studied in Paris and Florence. He exhibited 
first at the New- York Academy of Design in 
1838 and was elected an Associate in 1839. His 
famous painting of Perry's Victory was author- 
ized by the Ohio General Assembly in 1857, the 
joint resolution providing for a painting "not 
less than 12 feet bv 16 feet, to cost not more 
than $5,000." In 1865 Powell presented a me- 
morial to the General Assembly, stating that he 
had spent over two years in studying historical 
data and in other preparation for the work, and 
that five years had been required for its com- 
pletion. He asked that the original sum be 
increased to $15,000. The memorial w^as in- 
dorsed by Governor William Dennison, Salmon 
P. Chase, John Sherman. Benjamin F. Wade, 
Robert C. Schenck and Samuel S. Cox. The 
Legislature awarded him $10,000. The painting 
hangs in the rotunda of the State Capitol at Co- 
lumbus. Subsequently I'owell reproduced it on 
a larger scale for the National Government, and 
this copy hangs in the Senate wing of the Na- 
tional Capitol. Among his other historical paint- 
ings were "De Soto L^iscovering the Mississippi,'^ 
"Siege of Vera Cruz," "Battle of Buena Vista," 
"Landing of the Pilgrims," "Scott's Entrance 
Into the City of Mexico," "Washington at Val- 
ley Forge" and "Christopher Columbus Before 
the Court of Salamanca." His portraits include 
those of Washington Irving, Peter Cooper, Gen- 
eral George B. AlcClellan, Eugene Sue, Lamar- 
tine, Abd el Kader, Peter Stuyvesant and Emma 
Abbott. Many of his paintings have been en- 
graved and met with great popularity. 

B. The members of the National Commis- 
sion of Fine Arts, appointed by President Taft 
under authority of Congress and acting as judges 
of the great architectural competition for the 
design of the Perry's Victory Memorial, con- 
sisted of Daniel H. Burnham, architect, 
Thomas Hastings, architect, Cass Gilbert, archi- 
tect, Daniel C. French, sculptor, Frank D. Mil- 
let, painter, Frederick Law Olmsted, architect, 
and Charles Moore, lianker and art connoisseur 
of Detroit. Mr. Burnham's death lost to .\mer- 
ican Art one of its foremost exponents. He was 
the architect of the Union Station at Washing- 
ton, the Chicago Auditorium and of innumerable 
public buildings throughout the United States, 
chairman of the Park Improvement Commission 
of Washington, which developed the L' Enfant 
plan, and honored by many appointments dis- 
tinguished in his profession. Mr. Hastings is 
the architect of the New York Public Library, 
the Senate and House Office Buildings at Wash- 
ington and represents the Government as the 
architect of the National Capitol. Mr. Gilbert 
is among the most eminent architects of the day 
and designed the Custom House in New York 
City, the Woolworth Building, etc. Mr. French 
is the foremost living .American sculptor. Mr. 
Millet, who lost his life on the ill-fated Titanic, 
was one of the leading decorators of this coun- 
try, the author of many famous works of mural 
art. Mr. Olmsted is a distinguished architect, 
excelling in landscape work. Mr. Moore has 
long been well known for his critical devotion 
to art subjects. 

C. Joseph H. Freedlander, Architect of the 
Perry's Victory Memorial, was born in New 
York City, where he has since resided. He is 
a graduate of the ^Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology and the Ecole des Beaux-.\rts. Paris. 
He has been honored as President, Societe des 
Architectes Diplomes par le Gouvernement 
Frangais ; Vice-President, L'Union des Arts ; 



Associate, National Academy of Design ; Trustee, 
^Museum of French Art. French Institute in the 
L'nited States, and Chevalier of the Legion of 
Honor, France, which decoration he received at 
the hands of the French Government in 1914. 
He is a member of the American Institute of 
Architects, Society of Beaux-Arts Architects, 
Architectural League, National Sculpture So- 
ciety, Municipal Art Society and Technology 
Club of New York. In addition to the Memo- 
rial, among his most celebrated works are the 
Portland Auditorium, at Portland, Ore., Na- 
tional Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 
Johnson City, Tenn., the St. Louis Club, Im- 
porters and "Traders' National Bank, New York, 
New Harlem Hospital for the City of New 
York and many famous American private resi- 
dences. He has received many awards in im- 
portant architectural competitions and has been 
represented in the final competitions for such 
celebrated works as the New York Public Li- 
brarv, the L^niversity of California, the Maine 
;\Ion'ument, the Statue of Joan of Arc in New 
Yoik City, etc., etc. 

D. A. Duncan Seymour, Jr., associate archi- 
tect of the Perrv's Victorv Memorial, was born 
in Brooklyn, N. Y., Fe'b. 1, 1884, and was 
educated in the Brooklyn common schools and 
at Columbia L'niversity, from which he re- 
ceived the degree of B. S. in Architecture in 
1906. Subsequently he pursued his architectural 
studies abroad, making a specialty of designs 
and measured drawings. He returned to this 
country, practicing his profession in New York 
City, and in association with Mr. Freedlander 
won the competition for the Portland Audi- 
torium. 

E. Among the killed in the Battle of Lake 
Erie were three officers of each of the fleets. 
The seamen killed in the battle were Iniried at 
sea, and two days thereafter, Sept. 12, 1813, the 
remains of the six officers were brought to South 
Bass Island, within the present village of Put- 
in-Bay, and buried on the shore, in a single 
grave] in full view of the beautiful harbor. The 
funeral services were attended by the survivors 
of both combatants and the solemn services con- 
ducted by both chaplains, American and British, 
while minute guns pealed forth from the vessels 
of the two lately hostile fleets, anchored in the 
Bay. The remains of the officers thus buried 
were those of (.\mericans) Lieutenant John 
Brooks, of the brig Lawrence; Midshipman 
Henry Laub, of the Lawrence, and Midshipman 
John ' Clark, of the schooner Scorpion ; and 
"(British) Captain Robert Finnis. of the brig 
Oueen Charlotte; Lieutenant John Garland, of 
the ship Detroit, and Lieutenant James Garden, 
of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. Tradi- 
tion says that the mourners planted a willow 
tree over the grave, and there were indications 
of this when the remains were exhumed for in- 
terment in the Memorial, one hundred years 
afterward. A monument marking the grave on 
the harbor was erected many years ago from the 
proceeds of a dramatic entertainment given for 
the purpose bv the patriotic people of Put-in- 
Bay. It was dismantled during the process of 
disinterment, but restored by the Inter-State 
Board. 

F. Nelson Appleton Miles, Lieutenant Gen- 
eral, v. S. A., was born at Westminster, Mass., 
.\ug. 8, 1839. He received an academic educa- 
tion and was honored with the degree of LL. D. 
by Harvard University in 1896, Brown L'niver- 
sity in 1901 and Colgate University in 1910. His 
distinguished military career included service 
as First Lt. 22nd :\Iass. Inf., Sept. 9, 1861 ; 
Lt.-Col. 61st N. Y. Inf. Mav 31, 1862; Col. 
Sept. 30, 1862; Brig.-Gen. Vols., May 12, 1864; 
]Maj.-Gen. Vols., Oct. 21, 1865; honorably 
mustered out of volunteer service Sept. 1, 1896; 



124 



Col. 40th U. S. Inf., July 28, 1866; Brig.-Gen. 
U. S. A., Dec. 15. 1880; Maj.-Gen., April S, 
1890; Lt.-Gen. U. S. A., Tune 6, 1900. Bvtd. 
Maj.-Gen. Vols. Aug. 25", 1864, "for highly 
meritorious and distinguished conduct through- 
out campaign and particularly for gallantry and 
valuable services at battle of Reams Sta., Va." ; 
Brig.-Gen., March 2, 1867, "for gallant and 
meritorious services at Chancellorsville ;" Maj.- 
Gen., March 2, 1867, for same at Spottsylvania ; 
awarded Congressional Medal of Honor, July 23, 
1892, "for distinguished gallantry at Chancel- 
lorsville" (severely wounded); commanded an 
army corps at 25 : conducted several campaigns 
against hostile Indians on Western frontier, 
notaljljf that against Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, 
Chief Joseph, Geroninio and Natchez ; com- 
manded U. S. troops of Chicago, during rail- 
road strike trouble, 1884; represented U. S. A. 
at seat of Turco-Grecian War, and also at Queen 
Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, 1897; senior officer 
commanding U. S. Army 1895-1903 ; retired, 
Aug. 8, 1903. Pres. Jefiferson Memorial Assn. 
Commanding Mass. Militia, 1905. Avithor : 
"Personal Recollections, or From New England 
to the (jolden Gate," 1896; "Military Europe," 
1898; "Observations Abroad, or Report of Maj.- 
Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Commanding U. S. 
Army, of his Tour of Observations in Europe," 
1899; "Serving the Republic," 1911; also many 
magazine articles and military reports. 

G. Charles Edgar Clark, Rear Admiral, U. 
S. N., was born at Bradford, Vt., Aug. 10, 1843, 
and appointed from that State to the U. S. Naval 
Academy, where he was graduated in 1863. His 
naval career included service as Ensign, Oct. 1, 
1863; Master, May 10, 1866; Lieutenant, Feb. 
21, 1867; Lieutenant Commander, March 12, 
1868; Commander, Nov. IS, 1881; Captain, June 
21, 1896; Rear-Admiral, June 16, 1902. Served 
on board Ossipee, W. Gulf Blockading Squad- 
ron, 1863-5 ; battle of Mobile Bay, and capture 
of Ft. Morgan, Aug., 1864; Vanderbilt, Pacific 
Squadron, 1865-7; commanding Ranger, 1883-6; 
Mohican, 1893-4 ; Monterey, 1896-8 ; commander 
battleship Oregon during the cruise from San 
Francisco to Key West, and in the battle of 
Santiago, July 3, 1898; for eminent and con- 
spicuous conduct in this battle was advanced 
six numbers in rank ; was again advanced seven 
additional numbers in rank and promoted rear- 
admiral, June 16, 1902; governor Naval Home, 
Philadelphia, 1901-4; president Naval Examin- 
ing and Retiring Board 1904-5; retired Aug. 10, 
1905. 

H. Joseph Warren Keifer, Major-General LT. 
S. Volunteers, was born on a farm in Clark 
County, Ohio, Jan. 30, 1836, and there resided 
until 1856. Educated in the common schools 
and at Antioch College. Studied law and was 
admitted to the bar in 1858 and has since 
practiced at Springfield, Ohio, except during 
the jieriods of his public service. Enlisted as a 
private in the Union Army, April 19, 1861 ; 
commissioned major 3rd O. V. I., April 27, 
1861 ; promoted lieutenant colonel, same regi- 
ment, Feb. 12, 1862; colonel 110th O. V. I., 
Sept. 30, 1862; brigadier-general by brevet, Nov. 
30, 1864, for gallantry in various battles; as- 
signed to duty by President Lincoln as lirigadier 
general Dec. 29, 1864; appointed major general 
by brevet, July 1, 1865, for gallant and dis- 
tinguished services during the campaign ending 
in the surrender of General Lee ; participated m 
twenty-eight battles of the Civil War and was 
once severely and three times slightly wounded ; 
without solicitation appointed lieutenant colonel 
of the 26th Infantry, U. S. A., Nov. 30, 1866, 
but declined the appointment; appointed major 
general of volunteers in the Spanish-American 
War, June 9, 1898, commanding the 1st Division, 
7th Army Corps, and sometimes the entire corps, 
in Florida, Georgia and Cuba ; commanded the 
U. S. forces taking possession of Havana, Jan. 
1, 1899; three years commander of the Depart- 
ment of Ohio, G. A. R., and was the first com- 



mander in chief of the Spanish War Veterans. 
^Member of the 45th, 46th, 47th and 48th Con- 
gress and speaker of the 47th Congress. Fol- 
lowing a long retirement from official life he was 
successively elected to the 59th, 60th and 61st 
Congress. General Keifer has been actively 
connected with numberless important civic or- 
ganizations, has long been one of the leading 
attorneys of the country and president of the 
Lagonda National Bank of Springfield since its 
organization in 1873. He is the author of 
"S^lavery and Four Years of War" and very 
many public addresses of great historical value. 
I. Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral, V. S. 
N., was born at Cambridge, Mass., Aug. 28, 1845, 
and appointed from that State to the LT. S. Naval 
Academy, where he was graduated in 1864. His 
naval career included service as ensign, Nov. 1, 
1866; master, Dec, 1866; lieutenant, 1868; 
lieutenant-commander, 1869; commander, 1885; 
captain, 1898; rear-admiral, Aug. 24, 1904. 
Served on various stations and duties ; con- 
nected with the various expeditions for deter- 
mination of the difference of longitude l)y means 
of submarine telegraph cables ; superintendent 
Naval Observatory, 1897-8; commander auxil- 
iary cruiser, Dixie, North Atlantic Squadron, 
April-September, 1898; returned to Naval Ob- 
servatory ; commander Battleship Alabama, 
1902; division commander battleship squadron, 
1904 ; U. S. commissioner International Com- 
mission of Inquiry on North Sea Incident, 
Paris, 1904-5 ; division commander battleship 
squadron, 1905 ; retired by operation of law 
Aug. 28, 1907. Author; "Chronometer Rates as 
Afifected bv Temperature and Other Causes;" 
"Telegraphic Determination of Longitude;" 
"Life of Rear-Admiral Davis," 1899, etc. 

J. Various State Commissions have filed of- 
ficial reports with the governors of the States 
participating in the erection of the Memorial, 
those of Ohio being the most comprehensive. Of 
these there were four, filed Tan., 1909, Jan., 
1910, Feb., 1913, and Feb., 1916. In addition 
thereto the Inter-State Board has, from time to 
time, published various books, pamphlets, finan- 
cial reports, and other documents, all of which, 
including the Ohio reports, are now on file in 
the State Library of Ohio, affording a very 
complete literary inde.x to the history and de- 
tailed progress of the Centennial and Memorial 
enterprises. The titles of these publications 
and their dates are as follows: "Hearing Be- 
fore the Committee on Industrial Arts and Ex- 
positions of the National House of Representa- 
tives," February 18, 1910; "Brief Facts Relat- 
ing to the Perry's Victory Centennial," April 
n, 1910; "Minutes of the Inter-State Board," 
September 10, 1910; "Hearing Before the Com- 
mittee on Industrial Arts and Expositions of the 
National House of Representatives" (H. R. 29,- 
503), December 10, 1910; Report of Said Com- 
mittee (No. 1,804, 61st (Congress, 3rd Session), 
December 21, 1910; Report of the Committee 
on Naval Affairs of the LTnited States Senate 
(No. 1,229, 61st Congress, 3rd Session), Feb- 
ruary 23, 1911; "Minutes of the Inter-State 
Board," September 9, 1911; "Program of Com- 
petition for the Selection of an Architect to 
Design and Supervise the Construction of the 
Perry Memorial," October 11, 1911; "Meetings 
of the Building Committee, Executive Commit- 
tee, Inter-State Board, etc.," on the occasion of 
the award of the design of the Memorial to the 
architects, under the auspices of the National 
Fine Arts Commission, January 26-29, 1912 ; 
"The Perry Memorial and Centennial Celebra- 
tion," by Webster P. Huntington, Secretary- 
General of the Inter-State Board, with an in- 
troduction by First Vice President-General 
Henry Watterson, July, 1912; "Oliver Hazard 
Perry and the Battle of Lake Erie," compiled 
from the writings of George Bancroft, Dr. Usher 
Parsons and others, and edited by Commissioner 
Jolm P. Sanborn, of Rhode Island, June, 1913; 
"Official Souvenir Program of the Perry's Vic- 



125 



tnrv Centennial," containing "Tlie Battle ot 
Lake Erie," by First Vice President-C.enerai 
Henry Watterson ; "A Century of Peace," by 
General J. Warren Keifer, ITnited States Com- 
missioner, and "The Perry ^lemorial," by J. H. 
Freedlander. Architect df the Memorial, July 
4, 1913; "Minutes and Financial Reports of the 
Inter-State Board," containing also "A Digest 
of Laws," by General J. Warren Keifer, United 
States Commissioner, and the Articles of Asso- 
ciation of the Inter-State Board, September 10, 
November 19, 1913; "Digest of Minutes of the 
Inter-State Board," containing detailed renort 
of the audit of the books of the Treasurer-Gen- 
eral of the Inter-State Board by the Cleveland 
Audit Company, on behalf of the Auditor-Gen- 
eral of the Inter-State Board, September 10, 
1914; and "The Perry's Victory and Interna- 
tional Peace Memorial — a Brief Statement of 
Facts Relative to the Work of National and 
State Commissions and the Construction of the 
Proposed Temple of Peace, in Connection with 
the Memorial, as an Institution for the Promo- 
tion of the Peace of the World. November 1, 
1914." These publications comprise the litera- 
ture of the Centennial and Memorial enterprises, 
copious enough to warrant just conclusions b ■ 
the historian of the future as to the fidelity with 
which they have been conducted. 

K. John H. Clarke was born at Lisbon. Ohio, 
Sept. 18. 1857. and was graduated from Western 
Reserve University. He was admitted to the 
Ohio bar in 1878 and soon became one of its 
most distinguished members. For a period of 
years he was general counsel of the N. Y., C. 
and St. L. Railway. He practiced law in Lis- 
bon, Youngstown and Cleveland; was president 
of the Board of Trustees of the Youngstown 
Public Library ; memltier of the Board of 
Trustees of the Cleveland Public Library ; 
Democratic nominee for U. S. Senator from 
Ohio in 1903, making the canvass against the 
late Senator M. A. Hanna ; chairman of the 
committee in charge of the "Short Ballot" 
movement in Ohio ; vice-president for Ohio of 
the Anti-Imperialist League ; long known as one 
of the most brilliant orators in the United 
States and identified with many public move- 
ments and large private enterprises. He was 
appointed by President Wilson Federal Judge 
of the District Court of the United States for 
the Northern District of Ohio and later Asso- 
ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States. 

L. George Heber Worthington was born at 
Toronto. Canada, Fel). 13, 1850. He began a 
highly successful business career in a Toronto 
wholesale grocery house; later became manager 
for his father as contractor for building the 
Southern Central R. R. (now part of the Lehigh 
Valley Svstem) ; organized 1886, and until re- 
cently wa"s president of the Cleveland Stone Co., 
controlling 50 quarries and largest producers of 
building stone, also of grindstones, in the world ; 
has also been president of the American Chicle 
Co. (New York), LTnion National Bank, Amer- 
ican Dynalite Co. (Cleveland), Indiana Quarries 
Co., and Bedford Stone R. R. Co.. Interurban 
Ry. & Terminal Co., Cincinnati; and director 
of the Guardian Savings & Trust Co., of Cleve- 
land. He is a former commodore of the Cleve- 
land Yacht Club and of the Inter-Lake Yacht- 
ing Association. He is a 32nd degree Mason 
and famous as a stamp collector and connois- 
seur. 

M. A. Elverton Sisson was born in Dayton, 
Cattaraugus County, New York, Jan. \2, 1851. 
He was educated in the public schools in the 
old Kingsville (O.) Academy, the West Spring- 
field (Pa.) Academy and the Northeast (Pa.) 
Academy. For a period of years he taught 
school and studied law and was admitted to the 
bar of Erie County, Pa., in 1881. He has since 
been a practicing attorney in the City of Erie. 
Interesting himself in politics, he was chairman 
of the Republican County Committee in 1885-6, 



])rosecuting attorney of Erie Covmty for two 
terms, elected to the Pennsylvania Senate in 
1900 and re-elected in 1904 and 1908. and Presi- 
dent Pro Tempore in 1907 and 1909. He was 
chairman of the Senate Committee on Railroads 
and a member of the Commission investigating 
the building and furnishing of the State Capitol. 
Elected Auditor-General of Pennsylvania, he 
served with distinction in that office four years 
from 1909. 

N. Harry Cutler was born May 1. 1874, at 
Yelisavetgrad, Russia, and as a lad, due to the 
persecutions of the Russian- Government, emi- 
grated with his mother and sisters to America. 
The family settled at Farnum, N. Y., where 
young Cutler obtained various humble employ- 
ments, and later in Bufifalo, N. Y., and Fall 
River, Mass. At the age of sixteen he removed 
to Providence, R. I., where he has since resided, 
and, working his way up from poverty, became 
president of the Cutler Jewelry Company. He 
has also served as president of the New England 
Manufacturing Jewelers and Silversmiths' Asso- 
ciation. He is Colonel Commanding the First 
Light Infantry Regiment of Providence, one of 
the oldest military organizations in New Eng- 
land, organized in 1818. For three successive 
terms he represented the City of Providence in 
the General Assembly of Rhode Island, in w'lich 
he was the author and champion of numerovis 
progressive reforms and a member of many im- 
portant connnittees. He is a member of the 
Jewish Board of Delegates on Civil and Re- 
ligious Rights, member of the Union of Ameri- 
can Hebrew Congregations, one of the Board 
of Managers for Synagogue and School Exten- 
sion and president of the LTnited Jewish Relief 
Committee. 

O. Mackenzie R. Todd was liorn at Madison, 
Indiana, Nov. 30, 1870, removing to Frankfort, 
Kentucky, as a youth. He was educated in the 
public schools and graduated in the law course 
from the University of Michigan in 1894; prac- 
ticed law jn Frankfort and was Assistant At- 
torney General of Kentucky four years. He 
servei four years as secretary to Governor 
Augustus E. Willson. by whom he was sub- 
sequently appointed State Inspector and Ex- 
aminer of Kentucky. 

P. Henry Watterson was born at Washing- 
ton, D. C, Feb. 16, 1840. His education was 
received chiefly at the hands of private tutors. 
His journalistic career began as reporter and 
editorial writer of the Washington States, 1858- 
61. He successively edited the Democratic Re- 
view, 1860-1, the 'Chattanooga Rebel, 1862-3, 
and the Nashville Republican Banner, 1865-8. 
In the latter year he removed to Louisville, Ky., 
and associated with W. N. Haldeman, consoli- 
dated the Courier and Democrat of that citv 
under the name of the Courier-Journal, and has 
since been editor of the latter. He was a stalif 
officer of the Confederate Army during the Civil 
War and Chief of .Scouts in (General Johnston's 
army, 1864. He was elected to the 44th Con- 
gress to fill an unexpired term and declined 
renomination. He was a delegate at large and 
temporary chairman of the Democratic National 
convention of 1876, a delegate and chairman of 
the platform committee in 1880, delegate in 1884, 
and in 1888 again chairman of the same com- 
mittee, and a delegate in 1892. He has been 
the recipient of degrees from many colleges and 
universities and is the author of a "History of 
the Spanish-American War," "The Compromises 
of Life, Lectures and Addresses," etc., etc. His 
prompt and patriotic acceptance of the results 
of the Civil War was one of the greatest factors 
leading to the restoration of the LTnion. His 
editorial writings gave himself and the Courier- 
Journal a world-wide reputation, which was 
emphasized by his distinction as an orator. No 
citizen in private life has exercised, within the 
same period, as great influence as he upon the 
government of the United States. 



126 



Q. The Wolverine, formerly the Michigan, is 
a hardly less interesting craft than the Niagara, 
and only thirty years yonnger. She was one of 
the very first vessels constructed of iron, and 
the first of that type built on the Great Lakes. 
The building of the Michigan was authorized 
by Act of Congress, Sept. 9, 1841, at a cost of 
$100,000, designed l)y and constructed under the 
direction of Samuel Hart, of New York, and 
launched at Erie, Dec. 5, 1843. Her original 
engines still suffice for her sea-worthy qualities, 
and in recent years she has been attached to 
the naval militia of Pennsylvania, her old name 
of Michigan being changed to Wolverine, on 
account of the christening of the Battleship of 
the former name. 

R. Oliver Hazard Perry was born near South 
Kingston, Rhode Island, Aug. 23, 1785, the son 
of Christopher Raymond Perry, at that time 
master of a merchant sailing ship but during 
the Revolutionary War post captain in the U. 
S. Navy, and Sarah Alexander Perry. He 
served as a youth as midshipman aboard his 
father's ship and in 1802 was assigned to the 
frigate Adams, sailing for Gibralter and Tripoli. 
At seventeen he was appointed acting lieutenant 
and served in the Mediterranean. He was trans- 
ferred to the flagship Constitution and in 1806 
returned to America, for study and leisure. In 
1811 he married Miss Elizabeth Champlin 
Mason, of Newport, R. I. Prior thereto and 
after he received various naval assignments, and 
in February, 1813, was commissioned by the 
Secretary of the Navy to proceed to Sackett's 
Harbor, and thence to Lake Erie, to command 
the squadron there to be built. Following the 
Sattle of Lake Erie he was promoted to the 
grade of port captain, and, relieved of his com- 
mand, met with a continuous ovation through 
the country on his return to Newport, Nov. IS, 
1813. Congress voted him its thanks and a gold 
medal. After some further uneventful service 
he was attached to an expedition to South 
American waters, contracted yellow fever, of 
which he died, Aug. 23, 1819, the 34th anniver- 
sary of his birth, and was buried on the Island 
Trinidad. Subsequently the United States ship 
Lexington was sent to firing his remains home, 
and on Dec. 4, 1826, they were interred at New- 
jiort with ini]iosing ceremonies. 

S. Daniel Dobbins was born at Erie, Pa., 
July 5, 1776. He was the first person to ap- 
prise the National Government of the naval 
situation on the Great Lakes in the War of 1812. 
He was commissioned sailing master in the 
Navy and ordered to Erie to construct a fleet 



for the defense of the Lake region. To his skill 
and enterprise as a ship builder must be attrib- 
uted the possibility of Perry's Victory, in very 
large measure. Captain Dolibins retired from 
active service in 1840 and died Feb. 29, 1856, 

T. William Henry Harrison, President of the 
United States, was born at Berkley, Va., Feb. 
9, 1773. He was educated at Hampden Sidney 
College, Va., and commissioned an ensign in 
the First Infantry, Aug. 16, 1791. Appointed 
lieutenant June 2, 1792, he was made aid-de- 
caniD to the commanding officer, December, 
179'3, participated in the engagements which be- 
gan June 30, 1794; was complimented by Gen- 
eral Wayne for gallantry in the victory of the 
Miami, Aug. 20, made captain. May 15, 1797, 
and given command of Fort Washington ; mar- 
ried Anna Cleves and resigned his commission 
June 1, 1798. In 1801 he became Governor of 
the Indiana Territory and served as commander- 
in-chief of the American Army in the North- 
western operations of the War of 1812, defeat- 
ing the Indians in the Battle of Tippecanoe, 
and, enabled by Perry's Victory to pursue the 
British into Canada, totally routed them at the 
Battle of the Thames, Oct. 5, 1813. In 1816 he 
was elected to the lower house of Congress and 
in 1824 to the Senate. He was elected Presi- 
dent of the LTnited States, Nov. 10, 1840, and 
died April 4, 1841. 

U. Robert H. Barclay was born in 1776, of 
Scotch parentage. Entering the British Navy, 
he served with distinction with Nelson at Tra- 
falgar. In 1813 he fitted out the British fleet on 
the Great Lakes. In the Battle of Lake Erie 
he was so severely wounded as to lose his only 
remaining arm, the first having been lost at 
Trafalgar. He died in England in 1837. 

y. Isaac Shelby was born at North iMoun- 
tains, Indiana, Dec. 11, 1750. In 1774 he was 
made a lieutenant in a company commanded by 
his father. He was present at the action of 
Point Pleasant, where his skill won the day, and 
he commanded the fort there until July, 1775. 
He was appointed commissary general of the 
Virginia troops, with the rank of captain ; was 
made colonel in 1779 and in 1780, with John 
Serier, planned the expedition which caused the 
action of King's Mountain and changed the 
whole aspect of the Revolutionary War. Hav- 
ing become a citizen of Kentuckv he was elected 
Governor of the State, 1792-99 and 1812-16. 
During the latter period he commanded the 
Kentucky troops in General Harrison's North 
western campaign in the War of 1812. 




IL'7 



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